200
by holyjareau
Summary: JJ's been kidnapped, and the only way to find her is to dive into her mysterious, top-secret life in her career with the State Department. Will the team be able to find her in time? Speculation fic on what'll happen in the series' landmark 200th episode with JJ. Incredibly action packed. Tons of team involvement. T for language and violence.
1. Missing

**CHAPTER 1**

_Blood. I could hear the consistent drops of my own blood dripping down my face to the ground. It's steady – one, two, three. I'm transfixed on the very concerning pool of blood forming beneath me._

_One, two, three._

_Was all that blood from just my face? I can't remember anything._

_All I know is that my face is almost completely numb – my left eye completely swollen. I can feel the blood slowly flowing from my nose and mouth._

_I spit it out, hoping to get rid of the awful taste of iron and copper present in my mouth. Unfortunately, the taste remains._

_My wrists are aching from the duct tape and rope so tightly wrapped around my hands, keeping me bound to the chains that hung from the high ceiling. I examine the chafed, torn, and bloody skin under my restraints, red and ugly._

_Like a coarsely ground slab of meat, I mused._

_So tired…_

_I can't seem to keep my eyes open. The only thing that has been keeping me up all night was the sound of my blood dripping to the floor. _

_I take a quick look around at my surroundings. My vision is blurred, but I can make out that I'm in a factory, or warehouse of some sort. God knows if I'm even still in Virginia. I shift my head, looking around once more. I can see a heavy metal door just down the hall. There are shelves lined up in neat rows, and ladders connecting to a second tier. There are rows of unused machinery, dust lining every square inch of them. There are small windows lining the wall that connects to the ceiling, and I can see that it's still dark out. It must be late night or early morning. The hanging lights from the ceiling are so dim __– making it increasingly difficult to keep focus. I'm in an abandoned factory. However, t__he assailants are nowhere to be seen. _

_I wonder how long I've been here…_

_How did I get here?_

_Then it hits me – I was attacked on the way home from a case._

_I was in the BAU parking lot, getting ready to drive home. I had my keys in my hand, ready to open the door when I felt someone grab me from behind. I struggled, but was unable to subdue them. There were at least three men – one approaching me from behind, covering my head with a black hood, rendering me unable to see anything, another stripping me of my badge, credentials, gun, and purse, and the other, swinging a heavy object of some sort straight to my abdomen. A bat, perhaps. It took a few swings to my midsection and face to render me unconscious. Then I remember blacking out._

_After that, everything is fuzzy._

_God, how I wish I was at home with Will and Henry…_

_Oh God! Will and Henry! _

_I can only pray nothing will happen to them._

_I slump my head in disappointment, upset I wasn't strong enough to prevent my attack._

_The team. Oh God, the team._

_They're going to have to uncover everything about my life at the Pentagon once they figure out I've gone missing. I've kept so many secrets from them…_

_But it was for their safety._

_Jesus, how I wish this never happened. Cruz is going to have to tell them everything. _

_What I've done._

_The people I've killed._

_The people I've gotten killed._

_Those I couldn't protect._

_Those who couldn't protect me._

_All the secrets and lies._

_The very reason why I came back to the BAU._


	2. Everyone Talks

**CHAPTER 2**

He became distraught. It'd been three hours, and she still hasn't come home. He'd called her twenty times in the past hour, and there was no response – they just went straight to her voicemail.

Will knew something was wrong; JJ never left a call unanswered, especially not since the "Face Cards" incident. They'd promised each other to stay in contact all times, whenever possible. It became her ritual to check her phone every five to ten minutes – even when there wasn't a text message. Checking the screen became a natural action. And to be completely honest, it became his too.

An uneasy feeling of anxiousness swept over his entire body. She would always call him when she was stuck at work.

He didn't realize he was pacing around the room, when his worried five-year-old child was watching him from the staircase.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" Henry asked, innocence full in his voice. Will froze for a moment, trying to figure out what to say to his son.

"Um, nothin's wrong buddy," he paused. "Can you do somethin' for me? Could you go back to your room for me and stay there 'til I come back up?"

The young boy nodded, slowly making his way back up the stairs, never taking his eyes off his father.

He watched as his son made his way back upstairs, continuing to pace around the living room. His wife never ignored his calls. She was glued to her phone. He had to call Aaron.

He dialed the agent's number, praying he wouldn't be upset for calling him at two in the morning.

The phone began to ring.

In a few rings, the line picked up – a hoarse voice on the other line.

"Hello?"

"Aaron? It's me, Will. Look, I know it's really early, but somethin's wrong – JJ hasn't come home – I think she's missin'… She's not answerin' her phone, Aaron, she never does that!"

"What? Oh God, okay, I'll assemble the team. Do you mind coming to headquarters?"

"Not at all, I'll be there in thirty," Will stammered.

"Oh, and Will?" there was a brief pause. "Don't you worry, we will find her."

Will nodded and they both hung up.

* * *

Although he wasn't talking to the young detective face to face, Aaron could feel the same uneasiness run through his body. He'd let everyone go home early. Well, early for BAU standards from a long case across the country. They arrived at around 10:30 that night, and let everyone go home for the weekend. JJ was supposed to be home with Will and Henry hours ago. He quietly got out of bed, pulling on a pair of jeans and a red T-shirt. He tiptoed out the door, making his way to the front table where his keys, credentials and gun were. Aaron was steps away from the front door when a faint voice was heard.

"Aaron, where are you going?"

Beth. He must have woken her up. He stopped where he was, turning around, making eye contact with his girlfriend.

"Will thinks JJ's been abducted, I need to get the team back to HQ right now."

Her eyes widened, scared for the woman she'd recently come to know and love.

"Oh God! I hope she's okay."

"Me too. I'm sorry for having to walk out on you like this. I had such a great night. But I'll make it up to you when we find her, I promise. I love you." He said, giving her a quick kiss to the cheek.

"I love you too Aaron, be safe." She said, as he walked out the door.

* * *

Will quickly put his phone away, running upstairs to grab his son. "Henry? Are you still awake?" He made his way to his son's room, finding Henry still awake in bed, but sitting against the bedframe, clutching on to his favourite stuffed animal.

"Something's wrong with momma, isn't there…" the young boy deducted. The sadness in his eyes almost brought Will to tears. He hesitated for a moment, before answering his son's question.

"Yeah buddy. I'm afraid momma's gone missin'. I promise she'll be okay, but right now, we gotta go to her work so we can find her. Think you can handle that buddy?"

"Yeah." He replied, not saying anything else.

Will wished he hadn't told him that. But it was only a matter of time before he'd ask that. He was a smart kid. He already knew she was supposed to come home hours ago to tuck him in. She never did. That's how he knew.

Will picked his son up, carrying him out to the cruiser, and they were off.

* * *

**JJ, Undisclosed Location**

She hung there, motionless, barely hanging onto consciousness. Her hands were tightly bound to a chain that hung her from the ceiling, her feet barely touching the ground. Her face and body was laced with bruises and grazes. It'd been four hours since the abduction, and the captors haven't made an appearance.

Her shoulders ached from the unnatural position they'd been stuck in for hours. But she was more than thankful her clothes were still on her body.

Her sore body willed her to succumb to unconsciousness, nearly falling asleep, when a dark silhouette emerged from the iron doors across the factory. Her eyes shot open, but kept her head slumped, still looking at the floor. Honestly, she was too sore to move at all. A menacing voice started.

"Good, you're awake."

JJ slowly lifted her head up, shocked to who was standing in front of her. However, she continued glaring at the all-too-familiar man. He was attractive – mid thirties, dark hair, olive skin, slender nose, a nicely chiseled jawline, prominent but subtle brows that outlined the brow bone, and deep grey eyes that seemed like he was staring into her soul.

"Ah, there she is. How are you Adrienne? Or should I say, Agent Jareau?"

He circled around her. She kept her game face on, but panic arose from the inside. Her cover was blown.

She's been made.

"Comfy? No? Good." He shot her a menacing grin. She didn't even flinch.

She wasn't going to give up the information she knew he wanted.

_You will not break me._

Upset with the lack of response from the blonde agent, he raised his fist, delivering a blow straight to her nose. Her head snapped back, letting out a small moan of pain before quickly composing herself.

"Pathetic." She sneered.

She knew she shouldn't be antagonizing him, but she couldn't let him get to her.

She _wouldn't._

"Shut up. Where's the black box?" he questioned, waiting for her to speak up.

Her lack of response resulted in another blow to the abdomen, causing her to cough out in pain. He quickly pulled back his fist again, delivering another blow straight to her nose. A loud crack was heard, as she cried out in pain. Her head slumped down, bloodstained saliva slowly dripping from her mouth. He instantly took the grin off his face.

"I know you know where the black box is, JJ – can I call you JJ?" he smirked.

She scowled. Only people close to her were allowed to call her JJ. She obviously wasn't going to tell this bastard anything.

"Go to hell," she spat.

"Oh honey. I'll save you a spot." He threatened, before sharply jabbing her swollen eye, rendering her unconscious. He made his way out the door, not daring to look back at the blonde agent.

He knew she'd be difficult. But he also knew it was a matter of time before she'd talk.

Everyone talks.


	3. Unsettled

**CHAPTER 3**

Aaron sat in his usual spot at the round table, evident creases in his forehead. The disappearance of one of his agents was irretrievably unsettling. Staring at the documents, files and cases JJ had worked on since leaving and coming back, he couldn't help but wonder about her career with the State Department the year she left the BAU. Days after her return to the FBI, he'd noticed many things different about her - she was hardened. She was now a profiler. She refused any head-on contact with the media. There was something different about JJ, and he couldn't quite pin it, but never actually addressed it out loud. He just kept his thoughts to himself, glad that she was back with them.

He'd called Garcia to put a track on JJ's phone, and go over the possible security footage they might have missed. JJ's phone was found under another car a few feet away from where she was abducted, and the footage from the parking lot was a dead end - the abductors knew exactly where the cameras were placed, and to make matters increasingly difficult, they were wearing ski masks. The grainy, dim-lit footage prohibited Penelope from any means of a lead for the team to follow.

All they knew was that three men had taken her.

The rest of the team hadn't arrived yet. It was assumed the rest of them were still getting ready to head back to the BAU, after only a few hours of rest. Aaron had called Garcia the moment he left his house to get a head start on the possible case JJ's been taken. The quirky, light-hearted analyst was nearly brought to tears upon hearing the news from her boss, so much as bursting into hysterics upon discovering the parking lot security footage of her vanilla cupcake getting beaten and taken away. It confirmed Will's belief that his wife was missing - because she really was missing.

Moments after, the rest of the agents started entering the room - David first, then Alex, Spencer and lastly, Derek. All displayed mixed expressions ranging from guilt, worry, stress and anxiety. It was made worse when they caught their boss cupping his face into his hands, and the tears streaming down Penelope's. They were all in a state of shock, Derek, being the first to speak.

"Is she really missing, Hotch?" he asked, raising concern through the intonation of his voice. Aaron was unable to speak; he only nodded, hinting for Garcia to play the footage she retrieved from the parking lot. The agents were taken aback from the grunts and moans of pain that came from the young blonde agent getting beaten on the screen. When the security tape finished, a range of actions took place among the agents.

Derek slammed his fists onto the table, fighting back the tears that were staining his eyes. He hated himself for not being able to protect his partner. He cursed, in his mind, asking why it was always his partner to be the target, and not him. Elle, Prentiss, and now, JJ. _His little sister_. Memories of Prentiss laying on the ground, bleeding to death haunted him once again.

David's fists were clenched so hard they were on the verge of bleeding, as he vowed to put nothing but bullet holes in each of the sons-of-bitches that did this to her.

Alex broke into tears, but remained strong for Spencer, as she knew JJ was very important to him. She came over to the young doctor, who was quietly sobbing in the corner, comforting him. She knew JJ was his best friend. She prayed that they would find her before anything else could happen.

All was made worse when they noticed Will standing at the door, his eyes red-rimmed from crying. He was watching the footage the whole time. Henry was sound asleep in his arms, but it looked like Will was close to collapsing – unable to hold his son. Penelope quickly ran over, taking Henry from his arms. Aaron offered him a seat, and he sat down.

For the first time, complete silence consumed the room. No bouncing ideas off each other, no case briefing, no profiling, no chaos. Just complete silence.

From afar, Matt Cruz watched as the horror of his former agent getting beaten filled the screen from the conference room. He vowed to find her before it was too late. He knew it wasn't a random kidnapping of an agent. He knew exactly who took her.

_He knew it was his fault._

Not notifying the agents, he got up and left the building. He needed to get off the grid. He hoped that he'd be able to find JJ and stop the madness before the team did some digging into her past with the Pentagon.

Because God forbid they become aware of the work she's done at the State Department.


	4. Profiler, Profiled?

AN: sorry for the late update. my band and i were fully booked this weekend. anyway, here's the fourth chapter. enjoy! chapter five will be up tomorrow.

* * *

**CHAPTER 4**

After moments of silence, Derek finally spoke up.

"What do we know about JJ?"

It took a moment for them all to think about her. Will was the first to answer.

"Well I don't know about you guys, but you should start with her time at the State Department..." He paused briefly. All six faces turned their attention toward the detective.

"She never told me anything about what she did when she was there. I never really asked questions about her job. I was just happy she was home almost every night. At the time... I was ecstatic about her new job and hours. I was so blinded by her job with you guys - with the long hours and all the travelling. But now I realize that her State Department job was more dangerous than this one. Oh God, I've been such a jerk! It never really occurred to me, but the damn job changed her." he frowned before sitting in silence once more. Aaron's body tensed, as the same questions that aroused in his mind earlier came back. He knew it was the time to speak up.

"Before she left, she was extremely talented at handling the media," he paused, as the rest of the team synchronically nodded. He continued. "It's the reason she was snagged by the State Department in the first place. But one thing that's been bothering me the whole time was the fact that when she came back to us, not once has she gone near the press. I always assumed that her return would mean that she'd assume the role of media liaison again as a profiler like how I'd been doing it but JJ... Hasn't been near a camera for nearly two years."

The team exchanged quizzical looks, and the questions started bouncing around.

"Now that you mention it, I don't recall ever seeing JJ on TV, even at the State Department. I thought she'd be liaising between the Pentagon, State Department and Department of Defense - I'd even seen the reports that came from the Departments, but it wasn't her presenting information to the media. It was someone else. I think she might have been recruited into something else." Spencer added.

"It does explain why she came back as a profiler," Derek admitted. He thought about the time she came to him for hand-to-hand combat training. "Wait, I remember when she was away, she called me up asking for help in combat training... Said it was part of a program she was in, but never specified what program. At the time, I obviously didn't ask questions about it because I was too happy with getting to see her every now and then, so I happily offered her training sessions,"

"Why would a media liaison need hand-to-hand combat training?" Alex questioned. The rest of the members shrugged their shoulders, all of them attempting to figure out why she'd need to know how to fight. David spoke up.

"If she was involved with the Bureau of Public Affairs dealing with press relations, she would have barely been in the field - their liaisons deal with press queries, they conduct media interviews, coordinate special press briefings, and make conference calls... It's a desk job. There's no way she'd need hand-to-hand training, unless..."

"… Unless she switched departments into something more hands on like national security, national defense or counterintelligence." Spencer added.

"We're going to have to look into her life at the State Department. Everything that she's worked on, worked with, cases or files - anything we can get our hands on." Aaron ordered. He hated having to look into his agents' lives without permission, but they needed answers, and they needed them now. Penelope took this as a sign to start digging. She opened up the FBI database on her laptop and entered everything she knew about JJ. She brought up files from the young blonde's time at the Pentagon. She paused for a moment, confusion consuming her face.

"It looks like she's got a bunch of redacted files... She must have done something highly classified."

Will's head shot up. "What?" he questioned. _What the hell were you up to JJ?_

Now they were confused. _Did she go undercover? _Penelope uncovered another file, widening her eyes in shock. All members of the team felt the same anxiety run through their veins.

"Garce? Penelope, what did you find?" Derek asked concernedly.

"I just found her official employment file from the SD, and it says that she worked under Mateo Cruz. Guys, they knew each other and didn't tell us about it! They've been hiding something!"

They all stood in shock.

"Cruz? You're kidding. They knew each other?!" Derek blurted. They couldn't believe their own section chief kept this from them. Why would they need to keep their partnership a secret?

"They've been keeping some sort of secret." David assessed.

"Yeah, well, that's not the only thing she's been keeping from us. I just found a file on JJ from the DoD – it's a redacted dossier. It has her picture on there, but most of the information is blocked out. I'll see if I can uncover the entire thing, but it looks like she went undercover for a while."

"What?" Spencer asked, puzzled. He couldn't think of his best friend putting herself in danger, going undercover like that. He just couldn't see it.

"Unfortunately, yes, my little genius boy. Wait, I just got a name – looks like she used the alias 'Adrienne James' when she went undercover, but that's all that I've gotten so far. I'll call you back when I've got the whole thing, but it's looking like Cruz can answer more about JJ than I can."

"Thanks Garcia," Aaron acknowledged. He came back into the room, seeming like he was unable to get ahold of Cruz.

All the agents turned their attention to Will, confusion lining each of their faces.

"Did you know she went undercover, Will?"

He froze. It didn't occur to him that she was undercover.

"Oh god," He managed to say.

"Will, what? Do you know something?" Aaron asked once more.

"Well, I didn't think she was actually undercover… She just told me that she'd be going overseas to take care of some bureaucratic issue the State Department had gotten themselves into… We Skyped, and even called each other over the phone. God, how could I be so stupid!" He cursed himself. Will placed his face in his hands. He couldn't believe he could be so stupid to let her go like that. Derek came up to comfort him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Will, you couldn't possibly know what she was up to at the Pentagon, it's not your fault." He assured.

Will let the tears flow from his face. His wife – his JJ, undercover? Is this why she's gone missing?

"Will, we'll bring her back home safely okay? I promise our girl will come home to us. Why don't you get some rest man?" Derek offered.

"To hell I'm going to sleep, I'm not resting until I find my wife!" he shot back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. Just please… Find her," he pleaded, red rims circling his eyes.

The team nodded. It was silent, but one, collective thought floated throughout the room.

_Oh Jayje, what have you gotten yourself into?_

"We need Cruz. And he'd better have a hell of a good explanation for this." Aaron breathed.

Penelope took this as a hint and punched in the the new chief's number on the computer, coming up with nothing.

"I can't get a trace on his phone," she quivered. Aaron slammed his fists onto the round table.

"Try something else."

"Hold on, I've got a track on his car GPS - he's on the move guys. Go! I'll send you the trace on your phones."

And in a flash, all five agents were out the door.


	5. Damsel in Distress

**CHAPTER 5**

_I shot my head up, officially ending the uncomfortable slumber I had been in. It appeared I was alone. When I awoke, I was still hanging by my wrists from the ceiling, my feet barely touching the floor. I was still in a dank, cold factory. I'd listened intuitively for any sound that may have come from the dark areas of the building, or even sounds that may come from the outside. But for the last minute, I'd only heard the steady drips of blood still running down my face._

_The amount of blood loss I'd sustained from my face alone was horrific._

_I could take the hits – it was something I was trained to do. Perks of the Pentagon, I guess. They taught me many things I've never thought I'd be doing before I left the BAU. I could withstand torture. I became better at sharpshooting. I could subdue enemies twice my size. I was better at negotiating. There were many things I'd been able to do. However, having your face being used as a punching bag wasn't exactly my cup of tea. It's physically and emotionally draining... I don't know how much more pain my body can handle. But this was nothing compared to the first time I was taken._

_Memories of my time undercover overseas consume my every thought. I remember the initial shock of receiving this assignment from Cruz. Operation Covenant. Where the name originated from... It was beyond my paygrade. I'd been ordered to go undercover as a civilian journalist in the Middle East to gather as much intel about the "Black Box" I could find. Covertly working with the stationed US ground army, the operation was supposed to only last three weeks. I felt as if I wasn't ready for it, yet Cruz believed in me just enough to make me go. My heart was telling me it was for the greater good, but my head was telling me that I still needed more training before leaving. My body shivers to the vivid memory of having to lie to Will about going overseas for a few months to deal with an international bureaucratic issue in which only I'd be able to resolve. It was arguably the worst lie I've ever told anyone, and still, Will loved me enough to trust me, and there I was, lying to his face, promising I'd come home safely to them, when I knew safety was out of the question. I was about to enter a hot combat zone. I did it for the safety of this country, but to the extent that it nearly cost me my life. __Being held against your will once is bad enough. _  


_I shake off the memory, as I hear footsteps approaching the door down the aisle of the factory. __A slim shadow of light extended to my position. I remained still, allowing my body to go limp. I had to pretend to be unconscious. _

_I waited, feeling the tension build in my body. I continued to remain still and outwait him. _

_Ultimately, he moved away from the door. I let out a small breath of thankfulness._

_I tried to shift my weight. It resulted in a small groan, as pain shot up through my abdomen. They must have broken a couple ribs. I looked down at my body to assess any other injuries._

_As far as I could tell, they hadn't done any major damage to my body - there were no puncture wounds or gunshots that could generate enough blood loss to kill me. They'd only been hitting me in the face and abdomen. Must be my lucky break, I mused. _

_My temples ached. I slowly tilted my head back and closed my eyes, and instantly regretted it, as the extra weight the shift put on my wrists caused me to flinch._

_I felt the tears well up in my eyes and angrily willed them away. I had to keep my head up. I had to stay strong. _

_I am stronger than my trials._

_I was only beaten when I gave up._

_And I will do whatever it takes to survive._

… _I just hope the team will find me before it's too late._


	6. Who is Jennifer Jareau?

AN: greetings my little profilers! i apologize for a late update - it's officially finals season! i'll be getting back into the grind of updating daily once finals season is over, which will be in about two weeks! i do plan on finishing this story before the end of the year, as 200 is quickly approaching! today officially marks 66 days to go (if you're in north america) until the huge and celebratory 200th episode! how exciting! in the meantime, here's chapter 6. enjoy!

* * *

**CHAPTER 6**

The team were in two separate SUV's. Aaron, Spencer and Alex in one; David, Derek and Will in the other. Will had left Henry behind with his Godmother, Penelope. The poor boy was half asleep on the way to the BAU and passed out in his arms during the replay of the parking lot security footage. No one could blame him - it'd been a long night. Poor little guy was worried sick about his mother.

"Will, is there anything else you can tell us about her going away?" Aaron asked through their earpieces.

The detective thought about her time away. He thought it was odd that she was always in a lightly draped room of some sort. But he could never be entirely sure, because their Skype calls were always at night, when it was dark. But now the pieces started fitting in together - she wore light cotton shirts, her hair was always done in a ponytail, and she looked hot - not in the traditional sense. It seemed like she was always sweating. And when she came home, she was a completely different person - distant, cold, professional, and_ stronger_. She wasn't the shy, meek woman she was before she left. He finally answered.

"Well I never really gave it thought, but whenever we Skype-called, it seemed like she was in a draped room of some sort... It was weird, but I wasn't too sure because our calls were during the night, when it was dark out."

"Lightly draped?" Rossi mused.

"Yeah, like rags or something were dividing up a room. I never questioned it though, Henry and I were just happy to talk to her."

"Wait, Will, can you remember any more details about your Skype calls?" David asked.

He had to think about it. But the pieces started fitting in together.

"Oh gosh, she always wore light shirts – like light collared shirts. Her sense of style was different too... I know what she usually wears, and what she wore was definitely not in her fashion sense – the cargo pants with pockets, combat boots, light cotton t-shirts and v-necks. Like she was in a desert. Her hair was always done in a ponytail, and she looked hot, sweaty."

When the detective finished speaking, David's eyes widened. He knew exactly where JJ had gone while undercover. Derek shifted his head toward the older agent.

"Rossi? David, do you know something?" he asked.

"It's just a hunch, but what Will just described... It sounds like she was in a combat zone. More specifically, in the Middle East."

All five jaws, including Penelope's, dropped in disbelief. JJ? In a combat zone?

"Jesus Christ," Will whimpered. Aaron's eyes widened at the thought of JJ being in a war zone. He'd been in one himself, not too long ago. The conditions weren't ideal... It was always hot, dry. You'd need to stay hydrated as much as possible. You were under constant threat of death if you weren't prepared. _God, JJ, what have you gotten yourself into?_ He thought. However, he quickly regained his posture, asking Penelope another question.

"Garcia, can you pull up anything else about her undercover assignment?"

"I've been trying, but it seems like someone is trying to jam the servers and slow down the processing rate on that redacted file. The only thing I've gotten out of it is the she was stationed in Kandahar... Rossi was right; she was in a combat zone. What she was doing there... I couldn't tell you. Sorry guys," the quirky blonde apologized. The team all nodded, thankful for the information that was just fed to them. Derek was the first to speak.

"It's alright baby girl, you did your best. Just update us when you've got something."

"Of course, my chocolate prince. Please find her soon... I just need my vanilla cupcake to be safe. PG out."

From then on it was a silent ride to Cruz's location. The trace from his car stopped ten miles away from their location, headed toward downtown. It looked like he was headed toward an old high rise; a newly abandoned apartment building. Both SUV's pulled up minutes after Cruz entered. It was odd – why would Cruz come here? How was this relevant to finding JJ? Was JJ in this apartment building?

Each one of the members exited the cars – slowly making their way up the steps, with guns drawn and flashlights on. They'd split up into three teams of two; Aaron and Will were the first pair. David and Alex were the second. Derek and Spence were the third. All three pairs covered each of the entrances and exits of the perimeter. Will and Aaron were the first to enter the building, making their way up the stairs, finally reaching the only room that generated light in the dark building. Derek, Spencer, Alex and David had caught up to their leader, covering the door. Will grasped the knob of the door, waiting for Aaron's 'OK' to open it. It'd been unlocked. They hadn't heard anything coming from the room. What was Cruz up to?

Nonetheless, the agents and the detective were ready to infiltrate the room. Aaron nodded at Will, signaling the young detective to open the door. In the blink of an eye, all six agents stormed into the room, one by one, yelling for Cruz to come out. So far, he was nowhere in sight. One by one, six separate voices had yelled that each of the rooms in the apartment was clear. Cruz was gone.

"Damn it!" Derek shouted, staring at the open window. "We just missed him guys, looks like he escaped through the window." He was angered by the cryptic behaviour their section chief was displaying. David was the next to speak.

"Why the hell would he run from us? We just wanted to ask him questions."

Aaron started. "He's on the run too. If we're going to find JJ, we're going to need to start from the beginning - when they first met. We're going to need to treat this like a case."

Each of them knew what that meant. They've been through it with Prentiss three years ago. They all knew what it was like to be caught in the middle of a mess, and they were experiencing it again. JJ was the victim. None of them wanted to admit it because they all knew she wasn't just another victim. She's a fighter. They all believed that.

"Princess, the lead on Cruz is a dead end. He's gone. We need something... Please tell us you have something," Derek asked. But before Penelope could answer, there was evident shouting coming from the back room of the apartment - it was Spencer and Will. Derek ran over to see what the fuss was about.

"Do not move!" Spence yelled.

"Put your hands in the air right now!"

"Hit the floor!"

"Now!"

Soon, all six members were pointing guns at a man, who was slowly getting down on his knees, with his hands behind his head. His face was expressionless. He didn't look like a bad guy, but he didn't look like a good one either. He was a relatively large man - displaying military posture. Large build, bulky muscles. He had dirty blonde hair, done up in a neat fashion. However, he hadn't stated a name, rank or serial number. Who was this guy?

"Who are you?" the unit chief demanded. The man didn't say a word. However, he was blinking in such a way that was erratic, and patterned. Spencer quickly realized it was Morse code.

_Terrorists possibly watching. Arrest me. Will talk at station. Do not say a word. _

Spencer's eyes widened at the message this man was trying to get across. He knew Spencer understood. The young doctor proceeded towards him.

"You're under arrest,"

He got behind, slapping the handcuffs on him, and bringing him to his feet. The rest of the team just stood there, watching, wondering what he had told the young genius. Spencer discreetly shook his head side to side, widening his eyes, trying to tell them that they're being watched. He didn't say a word, however, the rest of the team understood what he was trying to say. Soon, they all exited the room, one by one, all wondering the same thing.

_What the hell is going on?_


	7. All Shall Be Revealed

**CHAPTER 7**

The drive back to the station was unsettling. No one had said a word since this man's arrest. Everyone kept their mouths shut, all thinking the same thing.

_What the hell has JJ gotten herself into?_

All team members had removed their earpieces. It was made clear each of them needed to think straight. The silence was a serendipitous gift.

At this point, no one knew what to expect. Still, they drove on, entering the FBI's headquarters and bringing this man into an interrogation cell. Will wanted to get in there to question the man, but was held back by Derek.

"Man, you gotta let me in there! What if he knows where JJ is?" he pleaded. Derek began to speak.

"No, Will, you need to let Hotch deal with him, okay? It's our best shot at finding her. Look, man, I know what you're going through - we all feel the same way. I want her back now too, but you gotta let us do our jobs."

Will backed off, nodding his head in defeat. He knew that profilers were damn good at what they did. He trusted they'd find his wife soon. Derek patted the detective on the back, as Aaron and Spence entered the interrogation room.

Aaron was the first to question him.

"Who are you?"

"Is this place secure?" Both gentlemen exchanged quizzical looks, wondering why this man needed so much secrecy. He composed himself once to more to explain.

"Look, I just need you guys to cut the video feed. I know you have at least three cameras in here. I also need your agents behind the mirror to remove themselves before I explain what's happening. I assume you're the leader?" he addressed, looking at Aaron. The older agent nodded, turning around, signaling for the rest of the team to leave and turn off the video feed. Cutting the video feed wouldn't be a problem, if it meant getting their agent back sooner rather than later.

"Video's off. Tell us everything. Start with your name." Aaron ordered.

"Major Michael Price. I worked with JJ and Cruz back at the State Department. We worked on a top secret project that is above my paygrade to tell you guys. If you want to know the rest, you'll have to find Cruz. And don't think that profiling stuff will work on me - I can profile too."

"Well then, Michael, do you have any idea where Agent Jareau is? Did you take her?"

"Do you think I'd be here if I did?"

Aaron and Spence both rolled their eyes. Spencer spoke.

"Look, We're tired. We're worried sick about Agent Jareau. And we're sick of playing this goddamn waiting game. Where's Cruz, Michael? We tracked his car to your location but was gone before we got there."

"And what? You don't think I'm worried about her too? The reason why I let myself get caught was so I could buy Cruz some time to get a lead on Agent Jareau. I could have easily evaded your team with Cruz but he told me to let you guys in, but not give you the entire story. Oh, I'll tell you about her time at the State Department. But what I won't tell you is what she actually did."

The tension in the room was increasing.

"No, you're going to tell us absolutely everything we need to know to find her!"

"Stand down, Hotchner."

Aaron turned around to see Cruz and Prentiss walk in through the door.

"Emily?" both men acknowledged the presence of their former colleague, but thought it was too good to be true. They were instantly thrown off by her sudden appearance and distracted from the investigation.

"I thought you were in London running INTERPOL?" Spencer asked, slowly making his way to the brunette to embrace her in a hug. Aaron followed closely behind, shaking her hand as a welcoming gesture.

"I still am, but I came to DC to brief a unit of CIA operatives on an international criminal, you know, the usual INTERPOL stuff. I had no clue what was happening until I ran into Cruz at the State Department. He told me JJ's gone missing, but what I still don't know is what the hell both of them did there..."

Both men nodded, but still didn't understand how Cruz and the man sitting at the table fit into this picture. Emily too, raised a brow, also wanting to know what else JJ and Cruz could have possibly hidden from them all these years. Before anyone could ask another question, Cruz spoke.

"Prentiss and I go a long way back. I was the one that gave JJ the go-ahead to access Prentiss' files and fake her death. All this stuff was highly classified at the time, and I know this is confusing, but the clock is really running out, so if we could all just assemble at the round table, I will explain absolutely everything between the two of us. I don't want to repeat myself twice." he looked back at Aaron and Spencer. They nodded, and followed him out the room.

Brief flashbacks of their mission popped into Cruz's head as they walked down the hallway. He hoped JJ or himself would never have to come down to telling this team about their working past, but now it seemed inevitable.

He was sweating. He was stressed out. He couldn't believe it would have to come down to this.

But it did.

And it was troubling.

* * *

AN: hello friends! I am terribly sorry for the late update. Like I said a few weeks ago, I was focussing on finals. Needless to say, I'm finally done fall sem and just focusing on finishing my stories. Expect chapter 8 to be up sometime at the end of this week or early next week! Thank you all who have been keeping up with me. And just a quick disclaimer: I do not own criminal minds (because if i did, the 200th episode would be airing much, much sooner than february 5th -_-)

SPOILER ALERT (don't read if you haven't been keeping up with latest cm spoilers)

And can I just say that I'm a goddamn psychic because I wrote this story before any spoiler pictures came out/before they started shooting 200 and I absolutely nailed JJ being sent overseas and being in a military setting/combat zone? nailed it guys, nailed it. that is all. have a good day my friends!


	8. Highly Classified Information

**CHAPTER 8**

Cruz paced around the room as the agents entered, one by one. Michael and himself were the only two to stand. They were about to drop a bomb of information on these agents that could quite possibly change the way they look at JJ for the rest of their lives. Cruz couldn't care less about how they felt about him - he knew that they were still trying to adjust to a new section chief. JJ however... He knew that they have been such a tightly knit family for so long. The secrets she's been forced to keep for all these years could be relationship shattering.

All agents were present, including Penelope and Emily. Will had been told to take Henry home and get some rest for himself. If they had any more information he'd be the first they'd call. They sat at the round table, attention focused on Matt. It was time to speak.

"Well as you guys already know, or have figured out, JJ, Michael and I worked at the State Department back in late 2010 and late 2011. But what you guys don't know is exactly why JJ was forced to come work at the State Department, and what she really did there." he paused for a moment before starting again. He was about to tell them the whole story.

* * *

**September 29, 2010**

"_Erin, General Walker wants __Jareau __at the Hoover building as soon as possible. Her immediate transfer has already been put in and approved. She wants this operation started ASAP."_

"_Understood, Mateo. I'll give her the BAU transfer papers. I'll be joining the both of you soon."_

"_Then I'll see you soon, Erin."_

_Cruz hung up the phone. He was stressed, yet relieved they'd finally found an agent that was competent enough for this operation. He'd been working closely with DOD-USMC Brigadier General Kathleen J. Walker, as they were looking for a fresh face for Operation Covenant. They could have easily chosen someone from the CIA or the NSA, but Cruz was looking for someone… Unique. Special Agent Jennifer __Jareau __of the FBI __had crossed the entire Department's radar after making multiple appearances on national television. Mateo knew she was the one. The General and himself had personally requested for her work history, and found extraordinary details._

_What really caught their eye was her perfect shooting record, from when she first joined the FBI. They had to see the results themselves. The firearms officials at the FBI academy had kept her targets all these years. Said that it's the best they've ever seen. No one's been able to replicate it since, and probably will ever again._

_Framed along the wall of the firearms hall at the training academy were three paper targets with a single shot, center mass. The name "Jennifer __Jareau__" was engraved on a plaque underneath each one. They were honorary plaques, but according to Strauss, she'd never mentioned it to anyone. Not even her team. Strauss herself was confused but impressed as well. Why keep that a secret? _

_At first Cruz had wondered why there was only one shot in each of the three targets, and found himself dumbfounded when the officials told him that she emptied her clip on all three targets. _

_She was a sharpshooter._

_She was exactly who they needed for this operation._

_Cruz and General Walker exchanged approving nods at the thought of finally finding a woman that was competent enough for this mission. _

* * *

**December 27, 2010**

_He'd watched her complete her training sessions. He knew at first she didn't want the job at all; she'd declined the job offer twice before, so it was surprising when she finally understood how important her person was at the State Department. Perhaps it was the attention that appealed to her to start cooperating, especially the attention paid to her by the General. Almost everyone in the __counterintel __unit had praised her sharpshooting skills, before they even witnessed her in the field. Cruz couldn't help but boast about this new agent working with them. After meeting the General, she'd agreed into being part of the special ops unit. Since September, she'd been given countless piles of information she needed to know for this mission. She'd been trained in knife throwing and handling, hand to hand combat (in which she'd reached out to her former colleague in the FBI for), perfecting her sharpshooting, extended firearms training and knowledge, military-like field tactics, profiling, intelligence analysis, keeping secrets... So many things that she'd picked up so easily, that even Jennifer herself was shocked. Her performance was exceptional._

_After two months she was finally ready to take on her first operation. The mission she'd been training for two months. General Walker and himself couldn't be any prouder._

_They'd be boarding the plane to Kandahar in a few days. There was no turning back now._

* * *

He briefly paused, examining the looks of each and everyone's faces. Derek was the first to speak.

"Kandahar? You can't be serious man, you sent her into a combat zone?!"

Cruz looked down, nodding his head.

"I didn't send her there, we went together. We were ordered to be a part of this operation."

"How come she never told us about this?" David added.

As a retired Marine, he couldn't understand why JJ never told them about being in combat. He knew General Walker very well. Surely it was something to be proud about, even if she wasn't technically in the military. Serving under a widely respected USMC Brigadier General surely should have brought up a little pride, let alone being handpicked to be in a special ops team by the General herself. Even Hotchner had boasted a little about his time overseas after being forced to come back from Pakistan to tend to the Prentiss-Doyle situation – from the sound of it, JJ's experience surpassed Hotchner's by a hell of a mile… No offense to Aaron.

The unit chief spoke up.

"What was her role in the mission, Cruz?"

Mateo took in a deep breath before telling the agents what JJ's objective was.

"Look, what I'm about to tell you guys is highly confidential. It's still an active case. But if I don't tell you anything, we're not going to find her." He paused once more, staring back into seven pairs of befuddled eyes.

"She was briefed before she even started her training. Before she worked for the State Department, we'd told her that she'd be working as a liaison, even though she was really handpicked by General Walker to be a part of a new task force for this operation. Obviously that's not something you can tell someone if they're not technically employed with the Department yet. So a week into her employment, we immediately took her to the Counterintelligence Division at the Hoover building and told her that she wasn't going to be liaising like she did with you guys. We told her that she'd been recruited into counterintel because of her impressive skillset. We thought her skills would be more than useful in the field. She agreed to become a part of the State Department's version of the BAU, which was called the Behavioural Analysis Program. That's where she'd received the training to become a profiler. And that's where she also received the extra training for this operation. Myself, Major Price and Agent Jareau had been summoned and appointed by General Walker to be a part of the BAP-led task force, Bravo-7, to go overseas to lead Operation Covenant overseas."

Spencer cut in. "What's Operation Covenant?"

"Before the task force was created, the BAP were ordered take on Operation Covenant, which was a mission that was started by joining our handpicked agents with handpicked marines, SEALS and soldiers from all branches of the US military, hence, the name 'covenant.'" Cruz pulled up multiple files on the screen, displaying the redacted files Penelope previously had been unable to uncover.

There were seven redacted files; three in which were Cruz, JJ and Price's files, and the other four members of Bravo-7. With the click of a button, the redacted portions of the files were uncovered.

"These four members were brought back to DC to start their training alongside Agent Jareau. The first of them was USMC Sergeant Jonathan Smith, codename: blackhawk. He was our team's weapons and arms specialist, and backup sniper." he paused and offered the agents a challenging smirk. "… JJ was obviously the team sniper." He clicked the remote to access the next file.

"The next was US Army Sergeant Alexandra Johnston, codename: doc. She was the team's detonation and explosives specialist, as well as our field doctor. Hence, her codename being 'doc'" another click was heard.

"Navy SEAL Lieutenant-Commander Aiden Edwards, codename: orion, was the team's engineering specialist." Cruz clicked on the last file.

"And Lance Corporal Jessica King of the USMC, codename: castle, was our team's hacker, intelligence analyst, tech support... She was pretty much our tech nerd. She was the youngest in our team. All four of these members played a vital role in this operation once we were overseas and assembled. We were a first class special ops team... It's why this project is still highly classified."

The team continued to display quizzical and confused looks, trying to make sense of what was just told to them.

_If they're this shocked with the information already, it's going to be a long night... I just got started, _Cruz thought to himself. Before anyone else could ask questions, he continued on, pulling up Price's, JJ's and his own file back onto the screen, uncovering the redacted parts of the files.

"What made this interesting and top secret was that the CIA had developed a range of new nanotech that we were able to use for this mission. JJ, Price and I were given the option to get the newer Nano-ocular camera injected into one of our eyes, or a micro GPS tracker injected into one of our arms. We all opted for the arm tracker, which was connected to a specific tracking software, in which only General Walker and Lance Corporal King had access to."

Derek's eyes widened at the familiar technology.

"No wonder she knew so much about the camera in Sam Carter's eye, back in Baltimore. I remember she said that he could lose his eye if the doctors tried to remove the camera. I was surprised she knew so much about this, but I didn't say anything else because I had no knowledge of the technology." Cruz simply nodded, remembering the same case. It was his first day with the BAU. He continued on.

"After that, we were all ordered to be the unit to lead the investigation on Alliance, profile the behaviour of the terrorists, and try to predict their next move. We were the unit to lead the takedown, since they were a small terrorist group. There'd been less than 150 terrorists that were part of Alliance, which was something that Bravo-7 would be able to handle, alongside smaller units from the active military. JJ's role in this was to go undercover because she fit the profile of someone Alliance needed. Someone that could work under them as a weapons dealer but also maintain a cover of a civilian, which is why she was sent in as a journalist. Major Price was sent in as a supplier – it was an arrangement that worked. They worked and covertly investigated the base and gathered all the intel that we needed. When we found the intel, we were ordered to take down the base…"

Cruz paused once more, with a pained look in his eyes.

"That's when all hell broke loose."

* * *

AN: Just a quick side note, I had originally intended the other four members of bravo-7 to be all US army ranks, however, doing further research and watching a crap ton of NCIS, I realized I wanted to make this team more diverse, meaning their ranks in their respective branches of military were incorrect to the relative ages I had in my head for them, so I have officially corrected their respective ranks according to their paygrade. Thank you guys for reading! Chapter 9 will be up soon. Even I'm getting chills from my own story! Don't forget to review, you know I love reviews!


	9. To Hell and Back

AN: Please forgive me with all the military stuff. If you couldn't tell, I've just been playing a crap ton of call of duty and I regret nothing. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Happy Holidays everyone!

* * *

**CHAPTER 9**

**25 JANUARY 2011, 2:24 PM – MSGT. MATEO CRUZ**

_Multiple channels are being transmitted; many different people speaking though our radios. The signals come through the US satellites that are positioned over the Middle East. The men and women overseeing this operation are based at the Pentagon – 26905, being our main commanding intelligence unit._

_Naval Officer Lieutenant Christopher Palmer overlooks our team through infrared and thermal images from the satellites. It's he and his team that are communicating with us during this operation. _

_"2-6-9-0-5, we have Alliance's playground in sight. 4-mile radius, surrounded by multiple personnel. Copy that? Nothing gets left behind on the playground."_

_JJ is the first to answer._

_"Solid copy,"_

_"Operation is a go."__ Palmer confirms._

"_Copy that. Hooah." I lead my unit to the cover of an empty building, across from the Alliance base, concealing our position from the first line of men that were guarding the south entrance into the base._

_"7-5-9, moving into standby positions." I say. 759 is our unit's identification number. 758 is JJ, Smith, and King's unit ID._

_I lead Major Price, Lieutenant-Commander Edwards and Sergeant Johnston into cover._

_We'd been separated into two groups – JJ, King, and Smith at a further concealed position, half a mile away. JJ's our eyes; the team sniper. Sergeant Smith is her spotter. It was hilarious, really. She'd been the better shot, and she'd never served in the military. However, JJ was never one to boast. In all honesty, she was all too modest about it. Thankfully, Smith was one to really appreciate women, especially women that could shoot a gun. He may be a little smitten for her, happily partnering up with her._

_I smirk at the thought. _Too bad she's already taken lover boy_, I muse._

_Our radios receive a signal._

_"We count five targets patrolling the roof, east and west barracks,"_

_It's JJ. I hold up a fist, but signal for our unit to get ready to engage, after JJ takes the shots._

_"Targets are locked in. 7-5-8 ready to engage, over." she was speaking to central command at the Pentagon. _

_"Free to engage."_

_Smith whispers. "Fire, fire, fire"_

_Then the first of the shots came out. We watch as the first of the patrol takes a shot to his head, falling off the building and to the ground. Another shot rings, bringing another one of the terrorists straight to the ground. All five shots were fired in less than seven seconds, and all the bodies had dropped dead, each to a nice headshot thanks to JJ. She's one absolute hell of a girl._

_"Area has been stirred. Light it up, delta-one." Smith confirms. Air support took that as their signal to fire rockets into the west buildings. It was chaotic, but organized enough for us to make our move. One of the pilots from the air support speaks over the comm. __We hear continuous gunfire, missile fire and explosions erupt around the compound. The air support was doing a fantastic job at covering our unit._

_"7-5-9, we've got you covered." _

_That was our go._

_We'd infiltrated the south side of the base. I signal our team to halt, as we approach a corner. I peek around the corner, and gunfire sprays toward our direction. I jump back, allowing for Sergeant Johnston to launch a grenade. _

_The grenade wipes out enemy targets past the fountain, allowing us to move through the now-empty court._

"_Go," I whisper, as we sprint through. We enter the first building, laying low for cover. I hear Lance Corporal King whisper over our earpieces._

"_7-5-9, you've got three tangos at your nine o'clock."_

_They too, had been keeping watch through the infrared images being transmitted to their tablets – King obviously in command of transmitting information to our team from the Pentagon's satellites, as JJ and Smith covered our six, taking out any men that tried to flank us from behind._

"_We're moving in," JJ announces._

"_Stay frosty," Lieutenant-Commander Edwards comments, as we move through the hallway. Our unit moves in unison. I keep my rifle trained ahead, as they take out the three men on our left, and we continue down the hall._

"_Clear left," Price confirms._

"_Keep moving." I say._

_I halt at another corner, seeing five targets down the hall. _

"_Frag out." Edwards whispers, as he throws a frag down the hallway._

_As the grenade explodes, we make our way, shooting at all moving targets, still keeping to our objective. I hear the radio receive another signal. Lance Corporal King._

"_7-5-9, I see six men inside that room at the end of the hallway. Barker may be one of them, keep it sharp."_

"_Solid copy. Meet us at the rendezvous point. 7-5-9 out"_

_We reach the end of the hallway, met by a cement wall. I search for Johnston's eyes, nodding for her to do her thing._

_She removes a block of C4 from her field pack, placing it on the wall. Edwards and Price both take a step back, ready to cover fire, as Johnston and I move to each side of the wall to assault. I nod for her to detonate the explosive._

_The moment the wall comes crumbling down, Price chucks a flashbang into the room, catching the enemies by surprise, allowing for all four of us to take out the targets. In seconds, all men are down, and we're in the room. _

_I gently push the side of one man's face with my foot, surprised to see it was a young man – not of Middle Eastern descent. Maybe in his late teens, early twenties. A waste._

_I look around the room, making eye contact with each of my unit members – all telling me the same thing._

"_Barker's gone." I announce, looking at the empty room. _

"_Cruz, you gotta see this," Johnston stammers. I turn around, starting at the wall containing photographs of every member of this team, including Strauss and our commanding units at the Pentagon. _

"_We're being targeted." She adds._

"_Shit! There's a bomb! It's a trap, get out, get out, get out!" Edwards yells, as I find myself nodding to his discovery and forcing our unit out of the room. There'd been a bomb set to go off, it was a trap. All four of us hit the floor as the bomb went off._

_Thankfully it'd been a small bomb. We would've all been dead. No one is injured, however, I'm still pissed it was a trap. Someone knew we were coming. Someone had been giving up information to these terrorist bastards._

_"7-5-9? Status?!"_

_"We're good, moving to rendezvous point now!" I say._

_Then I hear enemy gunfire start to spray, not too far from our location._

"_Move!" I order, as we scramble our way out the damaged building. There'd been endless hallways, but we'd made our way to the open road. _

_But it was a kill zone. No man's land. Shit._

"_Go! Go! Go!" Price yells, as we run across the road. We evade the gunfire, sprinting down the road like a stampede of wild horses._

"_Approaching evac point, requesting extraction now!" I yell over the radio, waiting for a response. JJ, Smith, and King had joined us by this point._

"_Solid copy 7-5-9, we've got you covered."_

_The airstrike moved in as we continue running. I look back, as enemy men start flying everywhere, getting hit by a string of gunfire and missile fire administered by air support. _

_Then I see a terrorist holding a rocket-propelled grenade. Shit!_

"_Delta-one, RPG headed your way!" I yell over the radio._

"_Shit, shit, shit! Bank left! Bank left!" the pilots had yelled over the comm. _

_But it was too late. Delta-one had been taken out by missile fire— the remaining bits of the plane already pummeling to the ground. God damn it! I shake my head, silently honoring our lost pilots, still continuing down the road._

_I see the convoys coming to our location. The extraction team is here._

_As we move toward the vehicles, I hear one of the women confirm from 26905, over the radio. "Delta-one is down,"_

_We continue running. "Keep moving!" I order. JJ, being at the back of our unit, turned back and laid cover fire, as we get into the convoys. _"_RPG!" Smith yells. But before I can make any sense of what he'd just said, our truck flips over, and I find myself battling for consciousness._

_Everything is blurred – my vision, hearing. I can feel and taste the blood spurting out of my nose and mouth. I can feel the thick liquid all over my face. _

"_Cruz? King! God damn it we have two down!" Price shouts._

_I can see Johnston and Edwards making their way toward us, as Smith and JJ provides cover fire. Two injured? Where's King? Damn it! Please don't let it be King. I watch as Johnston makes her way to Lance Corporal King, tending to her injuries. She'd taken some shrapnel through her vest._

_Shit._

_Edwards yells, as he tends to my injuries. "7-5-9, extraction team's been taken out, we have two injured. Requesting immediate evac and support!"_

"_Copy that, 7-5-9. Second extraction ETA 1 minute."_

"_Cruz, you're going to be fine! Stay with me!" He says, reassuringly. Suddenly, I hear JJ shouting at our unit._

"_Fall back! Fall back!" she calls out._

_I feel myself being dragged, still able to see Smith and JJ firing at the men coming toward them. I feel myself getting picked up and moved into the back of a truck. Five of us are accounted for._

_My hearing begins to fail me, but I vaguely hear JJ shouting "That's an order!" and I see her point back at this truck. Soon, Smith is sprinting toward us. _

_I widen my eyes. What the hell? What is she doing? Why isn't she coming? Jareau? Jennifer?_

"_JJ!" I manage to yell, at the top of my lungs. "What the hell are you doing?!" I yell at no one in particular. "Go back! That's my agent out there! Go back!" They ignore me. _

"_JJ!" I yell, one last time, hoping she'd hear me and get the hell back here._

_But she didn't._

"_Cruz, if we don't get out of here all of us are dead! We need to move now!"_

_I'm in defeat. My body is unwilling to fight, but I still see JJ on one knee, firing at the enemy. I'm horrified, but I continue to watch, as she gets snagged in the shoulder by a bullet. She goes down, dropping her M16A4 rifle, but she pulls out her pistol from its holster and continues firing. She is immediately stopped when one of them flanks her side, disarming her, and elbowing her in the face three times – knocking her out cold. The rest of them catch up and drag her away._

_That's the last I see of her before my eyes shut unwillingly._


	10. Riding The Aftershock

**CHAPTER 10**

He took another big breath. He'd finally gotten it off his chest, but it had pained him to go through the events of that day all over again. He'd hoped that he'd never have to tell anyone about the horrific aftermath of that mission. Hell, he even tried to put off talking about it with JJ, however, "the talk" was inevitable. There were details that hadn't been discussed before she transferred back to the BAU – important things about this case that had remained open since early 2011. They'd discuss things over early morning sprints and breakfast; it was their near-daily routine. They'd meet up at central park, and have done so for the past year.

However, he wasn't quite finished yet. He continued to speak.

"I woke up in the field hospital, hoping that what I last saw was just a nightmare, but when Sergeant Johnston told me it wasn't a dream... My heart sank. The last thing that I'd seen was _my_ unit member, _my_ agent, giving up her own life just to save our unit's. She's never even served in the military, yet the woman I saw on the field that day... I didn't see an agent — I saw a soldier. She's a goddamn hero." he paused, frowning at what he was about to say next.

"Lance Corporal King had succumbed to her injuries shortly after arriving at the field hospital. I was lucky enough to only have sustained a few broken ribs and a punctured lung. But we were now short a team member – Corporal King was the only one that had the codes to access the GPS tracking system that had been implanted in all of our arms. Thankfully, Lieutenant-Commander Edwards was also sufficient in computers and technology, so he'd been able to hack and trace her GPS tracker. We found JJ the very next day. Her location was thirty miles south of the border of Fallujah, in an underground cave. She'd been beaten up, badly. It looked like they'd been beating her for information. But before slipping into unconsciousness, she'd confirmed that she didn't give up anything, because she didn't have the answers to the questions they'd been asking. Tough woman. She'd lost a lot of blood from the gunshot wounds. I was unsure if she'd make it or not... I couldn't bear the thought of losing another one of my members, but she did make it through. Immediately after she'd been released from surgery, we'd airlifted her straight back to the United States. Physically, she'd recovered very well. Emotionally... Well, let's just say that she was very good at keeping her emotions to herself. But I'd say that it took a full four months for her to really recover. She was one hell of a woman, taking up the assignment of assisting your team in locating Emily and putting her into hiding. It'd been only a month after we came back from Iraq. I thought it was too soon for her to be doing fieldwork like that again, but she insisted... Said it could help with her recover, so I agreed. Since then, there'd been some complications regarding Operation Covenant, so Strauss and I let her transfer back to the BAU. We thought it would be safer for her. But since then she's been able to keep this a secret from you guys."

He'd finished talking, lifting his head up and seeing each and every one of the agents' faces; riddled with an unsettlingly common look – shock, fear and bewilderment.

They couldn't believe their own ears. Mateo could've sworn he saw a huge _"What the actual shit?" _flashing in red, bold print over everyone's heads. Derek was the first to break the silence.

"You're serious?" he questioned. Cruz simply nodded.

He couldn't believe a thing that was just said. His partner – _his JJ – _in a combat zone? He felt a range of emotions sweep through his body; shock, fear, anger, confusion, guilt, and lastly, sadness. The first, being absolute shock – the shock of hearing about his little princess being all the way in a dangerous combat zone. He couldn't see the petite woman fighting terrorists, but now it seemed all too real. But to think that she was in a special ops team as a top-class sniper?

"Holy crap." was the only thing he managed to choke out.

Then a second wave of emotion swept over him; anger and confusion – why would she keep her time away a secret from them? He absolutely hated being lied to, especially after the Prentiss-Doyle situation. However, he immediately got over it, thinking about JJ, who was still trying to recover. After hearing of her getting shot and beaten in Iraq... It must've taken a huge toll on her emotional state. And then coming back home right after her ordeal, only to help them to find Emily? JJ, who'd still been suffering, still managed to help find Emily, all the way through to faking her death, and kept watch over her for seven whole months? Just the fact that _his_ JJ had fought and was still fighting for the protection of the people of this country, while he played chicken shit with Doyle for seven months, and he _still_ had the balls to resent her after revealing that Emily wasn't dead? He'd felt like a lesser man at that very moment. _Oh my God, I've been such a jerk. _A final range of emotion swept through him, the last being sadness, guilt and understanding; not of himself, but for the brave woman he proudly could call as his partner. He always thought he was kind of the hotshot of this team, but it was really JJ who'd been on top. She'd been protecting everyone on this team this whole time. This country. He couldn't say the same about himself. He silently paid his respects to the young blonde woman, who'd fought for her life back in Iraq, and is still fighting now, wherever she is. _Just hang tight princess; we're coming to get you._

The rest of the team had sat quietly, but in shock; all of them wide-eyed, still trying to shake the aftershock of hearing the entire story from Cruz - the same thought running through each of their heads again. Their JJ? The-girl-who-used-to-be-the-media-liaison, Jennifer Jareau, a war hero? It was definitely unheard of.

Aaron had crossed his arms, still displaying his tough, stoic demeanor. He was proud as hell of his own agent accomplishing great things overseas, like he'd done so a few years back. But the work that JJ had done was extraordinary – topping everything he'd accomplished in the Middle East. When she was snagged by the State Department, he'd predicted that she'd become much better off than any other members of this team – and he was right. However, he was a little upset that she wasn't able to come to them sooner… He felt a little guilty they hadn't been able to protect her. _We're all here for you JJ. We will find you. Just hang on a little longer, you can do it._

David coolly slouched in his chair, resting one arm on the table. He'd been trying to decipher how on _earth_ a petite woman like JJ could have trumped a US Marine Corps sniper. Still, a feeling of pride, honour, and dignity ran through him, thinking of his little JJ being so brave and strong, fighting against terrorists for the safety of this country. But what he couldn't understand is why she never bothered to talk to him about being out in combat, or even bothered to approach him before engaging in combat, three years ago. After all, he'd been the war veteran of the team, with the exclusion of Cruz. He was a widely respected USMC Sergeant Major, for crying out loud. Still, David managed to show a little grin during this tough time, knowing that the woman that he'd pictured as his own daughter was truly a fighter. _Semper Fi, Jennifer Jareau. We will find you. That's a promise._

Spencer had been sitting in complete shock, tightly gripping the arms of his swivel chair, hearing of his best friend being sent away to a very dangerous place, engaging in dangerous activities. Even his genius mind couldn't comprehend the statistics or variables of the outcomes of that mission, or even come up with a logical explanation as to why _exactly_ they wanted _her. _He was devastated when JJ had been forced to transfer to the DOD. He remembered that he was at a loss of words – "_they can't just take you away,"_ being the only thing he'd managed to choke out. But he realized that they took her because she was needed. Not to tear this team apart, but because her services were needed overseas. And to think that she was willing to give her own life up to save her entire unit's… He was more than thankful and proud. He'd also felt like a jerk – resenting and ignoring JJ after learning that she'd kept Emily a secret from him. He'd even yelled at her in the precinct in front of everyone, threatening to take dilaudid again. Sure, he was upset, but he'd never taken into account how much JJ must've been suffering, being forced to keep Emily a secret, let alone her time at the State Department a secret for almost three years. He remembered when Hankel abducted him; getting drugged, tortured, and eventually becoming addicted to the damned drug. But then he thought about how much worse JJ must have had it in Iraq, and right at this very moment. He was still unsure if there was a God, but at that very moment he'd found himself praying to one, praying to spare the life of his best friend. _I will destroy the bastard that did this, JJ. I promise._

Alex had found herself in a compromising position. She'd never been close to anyone at work to care, but here she was, worrying for the life of the young agent. She'd never met anyone so strong-willed and brave in her life. She couldn't even comprehend how impressed and proud she was of JJ. Through her entire career with the FBI, not once had she bothered to make a friend, but JJ… she was one of a kind. JJ actually _cared _about her. She'd thought back to when she was shot while apprehending an unsub in Los Angeles, then flying straight to her hometown to deal with another unsub a few months ago. Her arm had been awfully throbbing, but somehow dulled the pain away to focus on her job. And there JJ was, supporting her; even asking, _"How's the wing?"_ because Alex now knew that JJ too, had been shot in relatively the same area. She simply shook her head, hoping they'd find her soon. _Just hang on, JJ. We're coming for you._

Emily found herself biting her nails again. She knew JJ was a tough cookie, but she'd never heard _this_ side of her story. Her favourite blonde had almost died overseas, and still managed to find a way to help her out with her Doyle situation. _How could she have even thought about coming back to the FBI after that experience?_ Emily too, had found herself questioning the requirements of this job a few years ago, before accepting Easter's offer to run the London Interpol office. But she remembered the oath of office... _I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. _JJ was doing it to protect her country. And for that, she was beyond thankful. She thought back to the time that JJ had helped her fake her own death, and flying to Paris to meet up so she could go into hiding. But she'd never known that JJ was still trying to recover from her ordeal. They were both fighters. But in that moment, she'd found herself cursing herself for not being able to see what was _really_ going on with her blonde friend. _I c__ouldn't profile her behaviour at the time… How could I not see it? _However, she put the thought aside. She wasn't going to be much help by biting her nails to stubs. She'd promised that she'd return the favour. She ran the London Interpol office. She could use her resources to help find JJ. Emily silently excused herself from the room, immediately speed-dialing different numbers and sending a multitude of messages to different people. She was going to help this team, _her team_, bring their girl home, just like JJ had done with her a few years ago. _It's my turn to return the favour, Jareau. Hell or high water, we will find you._

Penelope couldn't come to terms with her best friend, the mother of her only godson, going overseas into a dangerous zone like JJ had done. She was a little upset her Jayje never came to talk to her, even once, about her ordeal. They'd always done that; talk to each other about absolutely everything, no matter what subject. Most of all, she was upset with herself for not being able to see through JJ's tough barrier. _Why didn't you come to us sooner Jayje? _However, she understood that JJ was a very brave woman. She came to terms with the fact that JJ had been keeping this secret to protect them. But she couldn't say that she wasn't shocked about hearing of her sweet, vanilla cupcake being sent into a military zone. She couldn't imagine the pain and suffering she'd gone through, and is probably suffering again right now. Still, the quirky analyst willed her tears back, as they wouldn't do any good to find her best friend. She promised she would do everything she could to help find her cupcake and bring her home safely. _You stay alive, missy. Or I will be very upset. Just keep hanging in there, Jayje..._

Mateo examined the looks on everyone's faces once more. They'd taken it better than he expected. _At least no one's broken or thrown anything… yet, _he mused. But still, he was upset that it had to come down to this.

"Since JJ had been captured and taken in Iraq, and after discovering that Bravo-7 had been targeted, it turned into an international pending investigation. We haven't been able to find whoever's been targeting us, but I sensed some sort of conspiracy going on. Since early 2011, members of this team have slowly been taken out – Strauss being the last straw before I requested a transfer to the BAU to keep an eye on JJ. When Lance Corporal King had died in the field, I never would have suspected a felony, but when Lieutenant-Commander Edwards was murdered and Sergeant Johnston went missing in 2012, I knew something was up. Early 2013, before Strauss was murdered, Sergeant Smith had been declared MIA. Strauss' murder crossed the line, and I found myself transferring to the BAU. Major Price had been leading the counterintel unit at the Hoover building, still keeping me in the loop with updates. But we've been stumped on leads ever since. Whoever has it in for our team is damn good at hiding his or her tracks."

Mateo stopped there, frowning. He had nothing else to say. There was a prolonged silence in the room, before Aaron had asked another question.

"Wait, so what brought you and Major Price to the apartment? Why'd you run?"

"That abandoned apartment serves as an offsite operations base exclusively for the members of this team, if we found ourselves in the States. What you guys didn't find there was the multiple hidden computer systems built into that apartment. If you step on the right board, it activates a pressure switch that turns all the walls around, revealing the equipment. There, we also store our weapons. It's our safe house." Derek cut him off.

"Sounds like some James Bond-type crap right there." he breathed. Mateo smirked back.

"Oh trust me, it's all there." He continued on. "We thought we'd be able to track JJ's GPS tracker from the computer, but it was a dead end. Then I remembered there'd been a microchip we needed to insert into the system in order to access the satellites in which we're all connected to. I was about to head back to the State Department anyway to retrieve the chip, when we heard you guys come in. I told Major Price to stay put, because if you arrested him, it would buy me enough time to get out and retrieve the chip, come back, and explain ourselves to you guys. That's when I bumped into Emily."

All members had nodded. It started to make sense.

"Sir, do you have the chip?" Garcia quietly asked. She had hoped she would be able to utilize to chip and integrate it with her system so they could find JJ. However, she was instantly thrown off by the section chief's frowning gesture.

"No. That's missing too. Someone in the State Department's been tampering with our equipment. Someone's messing with us."

Almost all of them had sighed at the same time. They were at back at square one. They had nothing.

Suddenly, Emily rushed her way back into the room, panting. She had a mixed look of shock, fear, and anger engrossing her entire face. Everyone had focused their attention to the brunette.

"… Smith's the mole."

* * *

AN: I apologize for this one being so long! I originally hadn't intended for it to be this long, but hey, I guess the more you get to know where this is going! Don't forget to review! This will be the last update for the year 2013! Next chapter will be up sometime after new years', I'm officially moving back home with my parents and taking a semester off school :) God bless your souls, my little profilers. Until next time!


	11. Treasonous Betrayal

**CHAPTER 11**

JJ awoke to the sudden shocking jolt that ran through her body. She was unsure if it was from the horrible nightmare she had, or just her weird biological clock. One thing that she did know was that she'd lost track of time. But considering the non-fatal damage done to her body, she could say that she'd been out for only a couple hours.

Before falling into her unconscious daze, her captor and leader of Alliance, Daniel Barker, and his men had come in periodically, beating her for information. He wanted the location of the black box. She didn't dare to tell them. If she did, the safety of the entire country would be compromised. So they continued on, until she blacked out. He'd been frustrated with her uncooperativeness. That was all that she could remember.

Every inch of her body ached with a raging fire. There was an uncomfortable amount of blood staining her face, making its way down to her already bloodstained shirt. The open gashes on her face that were already there were made worse by Alliance's men, and were stinging to the exposure of air. Her head made its way up, staring at the damned chain that was still holding her against her will. Her shoulders burned and ached at the base, and she could've sworn her shoulder blades were already popping out of her skin. She could feel the scars of the incisions from her bullet wounds starting to throb violently from being stretched. Her body had been hanging there for too long. However, she was a bit more thankful that she was dealing with non-perverted terrorists that only wanted information, and not pleasure. Still, she was disappointed in herself that it had come down to this. She was disappointed she couldn't protect herself. She knew she was in trouble, but there was so little that could have been done to prevent this. It was only a matter of time, the question was _when._ Her previous superiors thought it would be best for her to transfer back to the BAU, Strauss and Cruz included; something she was unsure would be permanent or not, but either way she was thankful because it'd meant that she'd be reunited with her family.

She never thought that she'd enjoy working at the State Department, but matters became complicated; the attack on Bravo-7, murders and disappearances… All was made worse when Strauss had been murdered. She was unable to say anything about it, but she knew it had to be related to her time at the department. It wasn't just a coincidence that they were targeted last year.

Strauss was there, in Fallujah with herself and Cruz before the infiltration that day – the day it all went to hell.

Vivid memories of the infiltration consumed her mind.

* * *

**25 JANUARY 2011, 3:01 PM ****–** UNIT SNIPER JENNIFER JAREAU

_"7-5-9? Status?"_

_We hear the voice of Navy Lieutenant Christopher Palmer speak over our radios. I start to panic, hearing the blast that might have possibly just killed the other half of our unit. Suddenly, a grainy signal starts to transmit through, and I hear the sound of Matt's voice._

_"We're good! Moving to rendezvous point now!" we hear him say. I let out a small, thankful breath._

_I see their unit running straight ahead. We sprint to catch up with 7-5-9, as I continue to lay cover fire. The extraction team would be here soon, and we'd get the hell out of this God-awful ghost town. This was supposed to be a simple capture or kill. Who the hell gave up our information to these bastards?_

_I continue running, firing back at the men chasing us. Sergeant Smith is on point, Lance Corporal King closely behind him. The weight of the sniper rifle on my back is starting to add up, but I refuse to allow it to slow me down. I aim my assault rifle to the left, as I see two men aiming at our unit. I don't have to think to act – my finger instantly reaches for the trigger, quickly firing two shots; both killing them instantly. The scene is chaotic; our initial airstrike team had just been taken out, and I hear the boys yelling numerous things at each other, but I've tuned them out __–_ I'm focused on covering our unit.

_Soon, we find ourselves running for our lives toward the extraction team. I'm at the very back, laying down cover fire for our team to get in those convoys. _

_Then out of the blue, one of the boys yells something that catches my attention – "RPG!" _

_I turn around and watch in horror as the convoy that Cruz and King were about to enter, flips over from getting hit with a missile._

_I soon hear Edwards talking through the radios, assuring Matt that he'd be fine. He damn well better._

_Suddenly, I see a group of men starting to run toward us. Our team's a mess right now; Lieutenant-Commander Edwards is trying to help Matt, Sergeant Johnston is attending to Corporal King's injuries, Price is yelling over the radios along with Edwards trying to get another extraction team to get us the hell out of here, and Smith is in front of me, covering my three o'clock._

_"Fall back! Fall back!" I shout, as the men creep closer and closer toward us. I'm doing the best I can to take out as many of them as possible, but I'm running low on ammo. I quickly check the front pocket of my vest. I have one more mag left. I need to make each shot count. I continue to shoot, and quickly peek behind me. The extraction team has made it - Cruz and King are being dragged towards the truck._

_I turn around once more, and find at least 8 more guys running toward me. It's not looking too good for me… I'm too far behind the extraction. If I don't cover them, they're all going to die._

_Shit._

_I kneel on my right knee, to get a better shot at them, firing shot after shot._

_It looks like Smith might be able to make it to the truck. I yell at him. "Get the hell out of here Smith!" I continue to shoot at the enemy._

_"To hell I'm leaving you, JJ! I'm staying here! We do this together!"_

_Why does he have to be so hard headed?_

_"Smith, get the hell out of here, right now! That's an order!"_

_"JJ, no!"_

_I ignore him, as Alliance men are getting too close for comfort. I can tell he's already made his way back to the truck._

_Good._

_But this is it. The inevitable feeling of death consumes my body, as I prepare to give up my life to save theirs. My mind questions me - am I doing the right choice?_

_In a heartbeat, my heart answers that question. Then I remember exactly why I agreed to do this. _

_To support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic._

_I place my hand over my heart – the shirt pocket in which I keep a picture of Will and Henry. _

_I'm sorry it has to be this way…_

_I let go of my shirt, change the empty mag, and prepare to fire, as they come closer. _

_Breathe in, breathe out._

_Then shot after shot, I continue to fire. They fall, but more of them follow. Soon, I feel the explosive impact of a bullet enter my shoulder, and I'm on the ground. The pain is excruciating, but I ignore it. In a heartbeat, my hand pulls out the handgun holstered at my side, and I'm firing my last shots._

_I feel one more bullet enter the right side of my abdomen, as someone attacks me from the side. The firm grasp I once had on my last weapon is now gone. I lay on the ground, and I watch as the man that knocked me down proceed to sit on top of me, holding down my good arm. I feel too weak to fight back, so I glare at him._

_I watch him strike his elbow against my face. The impact blows my head to the side, but I'm still conscious. He tries again once more. I can feel my blood violently gushing out of my nose and mouth. I try to struggle against his hold, but he is too strong. I stare him dead in the eye, refusing to give into the fear he wants me to show. I spit my blood-riddled saliva right into his face as a final "screw you." _

_Then I watch, as he delivers one final blow._

* * *

She shook her head, trying to fill in the voids from her time in Iraq. Her entire life had changed that day – the pain she'd suffered from laying down cover fire for Matt to get the hell off the field; the intense adrenaline rush she'd felt, putting bullets in each and every one of the enemy's heads; the initial force that pushed her back, getting shot in the shoulder. She remembered the internal desire to keep going, continuing to fire. The final tremendous force that brought her to the ground, getting shot in the gut; a fatal wound. She remembered the absolute disheartening feeling of possibly never getting to see her now-husband and son ever again. Placing a hand on her shirt pocket, where she'd kept a picture of them, before getting knocked out by the enemy. She thought about when she'd woken up in almost the same position she was in right now; seeing that she was all patched up from the gunshot wounds, but still in extensive amounts of pain. Being asked questions, and getting the absolute living shit beaten out of her when she didn't have the answers…

It was horrifying, the first time. For three whole years, she'd been living under the constant threat of death from whoever was targeting her old unit. Her worst fear had come to light, and she found herself fearing for her life once more.

However, the voids in her memory started to make sense – there'd been a rat… She could _smell_ it. It was unfortunate they had to evacuate before they could do a sweep of the base. She couldn't understand why they hadn't anticipated more men than they'd seen on the systems. They had the satellite technology for God's sake. _Unless someone tampered with King's systems,_ she mused.

Suddenly, the large metal door opened up wide, letting light from the hallway shine through. The silhouetted figure at the door made steadily made its way closer and closer to her position. JJ cringed – it wasn't Barker. It wasn't any of his men. Then he started to speak.

"Well, look who we have here."

_You son of a bitch._

Her head shot up, and she glared him right in the eye. She instantly knew who it was.

"Traitor." she spat.

"Love it when you say it sweetheart." he made his way up to her, taunting her with his gun.

"Why, Jonathan? Why are you doing this?" she questioned. She couldn't believe her own eyes right now. It had been Smith all along. He'd turned on them a long time ago.

"Well, our friend Daniel here couldn't get you to talk so he called in a little favour, and poof, now I'm here" he smirked. JJ glared at the man. She was at a loss right now.

"Hurt me all you want, I'm not saying a word, jackass" she spat. He circled around her, grazing the barrel of his gun against her body. A shiver ran up her spine.

"Wanna know _why_ I'm doing this? I'll tell you _why. _I've worked my ass off for that sniper tag. Five years of failing that goddamned sniper academy, only to get my ass beat by a little blonde bitch that never even served in the Corps! Combat's not for little barbies, it's for men. So when I was assigned under civilian command, _your_ command, I lost it. I was stripped of my frickin' manhood. Do you know what it's like to work so hard for something you thought you'd be good at, only to get knocked off by a goddamn woman?! I _hated_ you for that. But of course I played along. Why get rid of you so quick, when I could play along for the perfect moment to destroy you and this team? Why serve for a shitty unit as a spotter for _you,_ when I could join Alliance? I was paid more doing a simple job than the Corps did for two years of service. So when Barker made a deal with me, I'd get everything I could ever hope for. So I slowly took out our old teammates overseas. Edwards was the first. Johnston the second. Then we'd come for you and the rest of your bastard State Department friends."

He removed a picture from his pocket, holding it up to her face. She tried to mask the gasp that threatened to escape from her lips. _John Curtis was hired by Alliance_. She should've figured it out sooner. He couldn't help but smile to the distraught look on her face.

"That's right, we sent 'The Replicator' after you and Strauss. He never got to you, but you know what, I'm really glad little Johnny boy screwed up here, cause now I get my chance to play with you. I'll get my shot at revenge, and get the money for it, and I'll walk away a very, very happy man."

She couldn't believe her own ears. She continued to glare at the man she once trusted as her partner. He's betrayed not only her, but also the whole country. She was ashamed and disappointed.

"You're a coward."

Out of nowhere, his fist slammed into her face, snapping her head to the side. A small groan escaped her lips. Smith grinned. JJ cringed, as he started playing with the loose strands of her hair, tucking it behind her ear and out of her face.

"I'm going to enjoy this."

* * *

AN: Hello friends! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Expect updates to be published more often, as there's only 32 days left until episode 200 airs! [February 5th, everyone!] I have a deadline of 32 days to get this done before February 5th haha. Anyway, I hope you all had a great New Year! Don't forget to leave reviews and all that wonderful stuff!


	12. Conspiracy

**CHAPTER 12**

"… Smith's the mole."

It was like bomb after bomb had been dropped on this team. Everyone's jaws had dropped to the floor, in disbelief – Mateo, Michael and David especially.

"Smith, as in USMC Sergeant Jonathan Smith?!" David questioned. His voice was slightly raised, and it was understandable – he was a Marine. For a fellow Marine to betray his unit and his country… It was disgraceful and insulting.

Mateo turned around, glaring at Michael.

"I thought Smith was MIA! How come you didn't pick this up earlier?!"

"Sir, we'd been working on tracking Smith down! We were told to just back off, so that's what we did! It was the Corps' responsibility to find him, dead or alive so we didn't bother after that!"

"It's not your fault boys," Emily calmly explained. "None of us would have been able to see this coming."

"He must've turned before the mission started." Aaron deducted. The team began profiling Smith's behaviour.

"Maybe when he learned that he wasn't going to be the team sniper?" Derek added. "I mean, I'd be pretty upset if I'd been serving with the Corps for over ten years, only to get trumped by that Pennsylvania Petite. He must've been the one to take her."

Everyone in the room nodded in agreement.

Emily walked closer toward the screen, grabbing the remote and pulling up Interpol's start-up screen. With the click of a button, tons of files were accessed and displayed.

"I was just out the door when I overheard Matt say something about their unit being targeted, and I found it interesting because we'd also been investigating Alliance operations. Let's just say that their leader, Daniel Barker, has been on the top of our list for quite some time." She pulled up a redacted file, removing the blacked out parts of the document.

"I found it interesting when Matt mentioned that members had been slowly taken out – at first, I definitely thought it was Barker, but when he mentioned the part where someone had been feeding information to Alliance, it couldn't just be a coincidence that Lieutenant-Commander Edwards and Sergeant Johnston had been taken out relatively the same time; Edwards being murdered at the base shortly after JJ, Cruz and Price had left Fallujah, and Sergeant Johnston MIA shortly after Edwards' murder. Who did that leave?" She stared into the eyes of everyone in the room, allowing for someone to state the obvious.

"Smith. Strauss, Cruz, Price and JJ were already in the States." Aaron chimed in.

"Exactly." Emily nodded.

The pieces started to fit together, but Derek was still a bit confused.

"Okay, but why go MIA after that? If he'd already been a part of Alliance, why not declare yourself as 'Killed in Action' so people wouldn't look for you?"

David knew exactly what Smith's point of view was.

"That's exactly what he wanted. If he declared himself KIA there would be no way of redeeming himself if he wanted to pop up as a hero. It's all about being the hero. If he'd failed at sniping, there'd be other ways to get attention. When you serve in any branch of the US military, sniping is like sitting on a throne. When you have that sniper tag, you're in charge. You get the glory. JJ pushing him off the pedestal as sniper must've fueled his motive."

Emily nodded, about to say something when Alex asked something first.

"But wait, how do you know if it was Smith that murdered the Lieutenant-Commander and got rid of the Sergeant? How was Edwards' murdered?"

Emily sighed, making eye contact with Penelope.

"Almost 6 years ago, Penelope had been shot by a man who murdered people by shooting them, then trying to save them to make himself look like a hero. When Interpol got word of Lieutenant-Commander Edwards being murdered, guess who it was that tried to save him."

"Smith." Penelope stuttered, vividly flashing back to when she'd been shot. Emily saw the pained look on her face, momentarily pausing and thinking of the moment they'd found themselves waiting in the hospital on Penelope's condition. She shook off the memory, continuing on with what she'd discovered.

"Exactly. Edwards was murdered by multiple GSW's to the chest while off duty. Coincidentally, Smith had been there, and tried to 'save' him, but was unable to. And, when Sergeant Johnston went missing, it was immediately assumed that she'd been killed in the line of duty. Their first mistake, because guess who ordered the raid to find her?"

"Smith. If he was already working with Alliance, but still keeping low profile about it, he must've fed information about her medical unit being in the field to allow Barker's men to take her underground, somewhere no one would find her." Spence added.

"And if she'd been kept with Alliance, but without her knowing that it'd been Smith ordering her kidnapping, then it was the perfect setup to try to be the hero." Aaron commented.

"Okay, but how come Smith hadn't said anything while JJ was undercover with Alliance? Or even Major Price? Surely their identities would have been immediately compromised," Alex added.

"Double cross. Trying to feed information to Alliance to gain their trust, but also keeping low on Bravo-7 to avoid any means of getting caught in the process." Spencer said. "But what I don't understand is why Barker hasn't suspected Smith as a double."

After moments of silence, Mateo finally spoke up.

"Smith knew something Barker didn't. He knew the location of the Black Box. Barker wouldn't get rid of Smith so easy if it meant getting his hands on the Black Box."

"Okay, wait. I'm going to stop you right there. What the hell is this 'Black Box' you keep talking about?!" Derek questioned. Mateo calmly took over the screens.

"The Black Box is a small black box containing a microchip with an astonishing amount of government intel and secrets on it. JJ's initial assignment was to investigate its location because the last we heard was that Alliance had gotten their hands on it. When JJ told us that she'd gathered all the intel that was needed, that was our go to take down the base. It was our orders. But it was chaotic… She said she found the Black Box, but we never retrieved it from the base,"

He'd paused. He couldn't think of any logical explanation as to why they didn't have the Black Box, nor did Alliance.

There was a prolonged silence in the room, before Emily spoke up.

"Wait, that's it!"

The team exchanged quizzical looks with each other. Emily sighed before starting again.

"Something must have happened when JJ was captured and beaten for information. It's a hell of a long shot, but I think JJ allowed for herself to get captured, because she knew that they'd take her to the only secure place that they had – the real base. The base that JJ, Matt and Michael's unit had infiltrated was just a decoy. I mean, if I were the leader, I wouldn't store something so valuable in an area so exposed. Why keep it there, when you can keep it somewhere that no one could find it? Except, JJ's arm tracker had thrown them off their game – if she didn't have the tracker,"

"Then it would be game over." Aaron concluded. "They didn't count on JJ having that tracker. If the cave they took her to was where they kept the real intel, then JJ must've found it and kept it since then."

Matt and Michael were confused.

"She never told us anything."

Emily continued.

"But that's just it, if she knew there was a mole in the team, why would she tell anyone else about the Black Box? If she kept that secret to herself,"

"She'd have a better chance of getting out of it. Make herself least likely to be targeted. If she said that she had no idea where it was, then Smith wouldn't have suspected that she really did have the intel." Derek commented.

"Except now he does, and there's nothing he won't do to find that information."

They'd found themselves stumped again. They needed to find JJ immediately, but had no physical leads. Something popped into Aaron's head. He turned to Matt.

"Wait, her disappearance has to be connected with all four of you coming back to the states. What happened when you came back?"

"When we came back, Strauss and I thought it would be best for JJ to transfer back to the BAU. We thought it would be safer for her to stick around a civilian agency, away from the State Department. Price and I had agreed to keep contact at a minimum at the department, but the three of us had been maintaining contact to update each other on possible leads. Our… Situation overseas became a pending investigation; it's why Alliance had popped onto Interpol's radar. Things got weird after Edwards was murdered and Johnston went missing. Smith's disappearance and Strauss' murder wasn't just coincidental either. Tampered computer systems, missing microchips… I had to do something, so we opened up that investigation again. JJ and I had been meeting every morning since mid 2013, when Strauss was murdered."

"That's it, Strauss' murder is the connection." Emily addressed.

"What?" Derek, Spence, Alex and Penelope had blurted out at the same time.

"It has something to do with Strauss' murder. Garcia, can you pull up everything you guys might have missed on The Replicator?"

"Will do, Chief Prentiss." Penelope smiled. She liked that her best friend was comfortable with this new position of hers. Emily couldn't help but smile back. The rush of profiling had stirred something in her again. It was like old times.

"What am I looking for, exactly?"

"Contact history. I have a hunch… You guys might've not noticed it before because of how high profile this case was, and how pressured all of you must've been at the time. But I remember seeing something about Barker hiring someone overseas, in the states, but it didn't specify for what. It didn't seem important at the time because the person he hired wasn't the arms dealer and supplier we were looking for."

Penelope scrolled through the endless documents, analyzing each and every word. Countless redacted files had come up, but the access she needed was granted, thanks to Emily.

"There." She pointed to a small box on the screen, hidden away in a small file that was redacted. Penelope uncovered the file, and surely enough; there was Daniel Barker and Jonathan Smith.

"Oh my god!"

"So JJ's been targeted for a while?!" Derek blurted out.

"She didn't know. His original orders were to take JJ and Erin out. Because Alex had just joined the team at the time, John Curtis was derailed from his orders because of the personal matter related to it, targeting our entire team, but targeting Strauss and Alex for the most part." Aaron acknowledged.

"Then they must be keeping JJ somewhere he, Barker and Smith knew – somewhere the three of them could meet if something went south, like a temporary operations base." David added.

"And if it's somewhere around here, then it would be in an abandoned warehouse or factory." Alex continued.

Everyone nodded. They were anxious for answers, but were content because they'd soon get the location of their girl.

"Guys, I found an old text message from last year – it's an address to an abandoned factory. I think it's the factory he was supposed to take Erin and JJ originally, but didn't because he had turned his orders into a personal vendetta against Alex and Erin. Guys, I think that's where JJ is right now!"

Immediately, all eight pairs of eyes had widened. They finally had something.

"Garcia, where's the factory?" Aaron asked. His voice was slightly raised from the stress and anxiety that JJ's kidnapping had over him.

"In Baltimore sir! It's a factory sitting near Curtis Bay. I'll send the address to your phones and tablets and I'll call in SWAT! Go!"

Aaron pulled out his phone, calling in a favour. They'd need the choppers – Baltimore was about an hour's drive. They'd never make it to JJ in time. A chopper ride to Curtis Bay would be a twenty-minute flight.

He'd take it.

So in the blink of an eye, all eight agents had rushed out the door. They knew they were running on a ticking clock, and it would only be a matter of time before irreversible damage would be done. They all promised they'd get to JJ soon – it wasn't a promise they intended to break.


	13. Time's Running Out

**CHAPTER 13**

Her head snapped back, following the violent jab that was placed squarely at her brow bone. She could feel her brow split wide open from the impact of his fist. Up until now, she'd been able to avoid showing any kind of weakness, but now she was unsure how much more of the punches she could take…

She allowed her head to slump down, toward the floor. She was fatigued, and in an excessive amount of pain. She'd already been drugged up as hell; Smith trying to use a truth serum to get answers out of her, but it hadn't worked. Now he was just beating her for his pleasure.

"Always gotta be the hero, don't you?" Smith spat. JJ didn't say a word.

"You know, I had a thing for you. If it wasn't for you stealing the spotlight, maybe we could have been a thing."

"You're pathetic," she broke in. Her response earned her a jab to her already broken ribs. A loud grunt was released.

"Shut up! I was supposed to save your ass that day, and I was supposed to be the one to bring the box home! It was supposed to be me! You were so frickin' stubborn, so I went back with the rest of them. Why argue with you when you were already signing your death warrant?"

"Except you didn't count on them taking me back with them alive…" she breathed.

"My mistake. I should've done something to stop them from finding you, but that bastard Cruz and the rest of them were eager. So pathetic."

She used up all the energy she had left, defiantly asserting her opinion.

"You know what's pathetic? Betraying the honour, integrity and allegiance of this country for a scumbag, who I know will be on the receiving end of that bullet of whoever decides to take the shot from my team."

Her response earned her another punch to the face. The impact was almost comparable to getting hit by a bus. She slumped her head once more, allowing for her bloody saliva to freely drip to the floor.

"They're not going to find you." He paused, circling around her once more. "You know, this can all be over if you tell me where the chip is, JJ."

She wasn't going to give up the location of the chip. But Smith wasn't giving up either.

"No…" she managed to breathe out. It was getting harder and harder to breathe with her broken ribs. Smith had been using her as a punching bag, and her ribcage was the perfect area to land some punches.

Her reply had upset him. He pulled out his knife, and placed it up against her abdomen, threatening to push it in further.

"You'll tell me exactly where it is. Otherwise, you'll know exactly what happens when I decide to put any more pressure on my little toy here."

JJ continued glaring at the man, not daring to say a word. She didn't give a damn if he even dared to put another hole in her, and he saw that. Upset, he gave up, folding the knife and putting it away, storming out the room. He needed something else that would break her. He wouldn't stop until he was dead.

As his presence exited the place, JJ wearily moved her head, trying to shift her weight. A sharp cry escaped her lips; it was no good. Her abdomen probably looked like a mess. She felt a wave of dizziness consume her, forcing her to close her eyes, slipping into another unconscious daze.

* * *

**26 JANUARY 2011, 8:26 AM – UNIT SNIPER JENNIFER JAREAU, ALLIANCE BASE**

_Gunshots. I hear the sound of gunshots reverberate through the awful cave. Did they find me? Is this the part where I get rescued?_

_I close my eyes. I can't get my hopes up – not just yet. My body is completely weak from the amount of blood I'd lost yesterday. I can feel that my face is drenched with blood and sweat. My hands are still tied behind my back, and six or seven Iraqi men heavily guard me. However, the sounds of the shots startle them, and they're soon running all over the place, yelling things at each other. In the midst of the chaos, one of them happens to bump into the computer system, and I watch as something wrapped in a cloth is knocked off to the ground, near my position. _

_Is that what I think it is? _

_No. It can't be._

_However, my curiosity drives me to grab it. No one saw it fall. These men are idiots. I curiously shift my way toward it, and swipe it with my hands. An extremely painful move, but I keep my pained groans to myself. I feel along the rough edge of the small box that was hidden in this cloth. I let out a small grin – I just found it._

_Before anything else happens, I quickly move back to my original position. My body screams in pain, as the quick and sudden movements causes the wound in my abdomen to rip open and start bleeding again. However, I remain quiet – I need to avoid catching the attention of these men._

_I slam the little box into the ground, hoping to smash the chip out of its place. It's the only important part of the device. My hands scramble around, but I find the chip, and keep it in my hands._

_The gunfire continues down, and I can hear it creep closer and closer to the room I'm being held in. I can tell that this raid has been ordered by Cruz – they must've used my GPS tracker to find me._

_Thank God._

_There's a slight pause in the gunfire, and I take it as a sign to get my ass to the floor. I can tell Sergeant Johnston's about to use a block of C4 to blow up the wall to allow the military unit to get in, and take out the enemies – it's been one of our field tactics._

_I shift my body behind the computer and against the wall, hoping it will be enough to protect my body from any more damage._

_In a heartbeat, I hear the rapid engagement of men infiltrating the room; gunshots loud and clear, and the voices of men and women yelling at each other, all saying the same thing:_

'_Clear!'_

_Soon, a figure overshadows me, and I find myself looking up, into his face._

"_I've got her," he says. He's young. He doesn't look familiar – he must be from the ground unit. I continue staring at him, as he carefully helps me up. I take a quick peek at his nametag. Captain Ivan Marx of the USMC. I drop my gaze, and maintain the firm grasp on the chip in my hands. _

"_It's alright Agent, I've got you. It's going to be okay."_

_I shakily nod to his warm statement, as he removes the binds from my hands, and drapes a blanket over my shoulders. My body continues to scream in pain while he escorts me out of the cave. I limp along._

_As the young soldier maintains his hold on my body, I stealthily move my right hand holding the chip, and shove it into my bullet wound in my shoulder. A sharp gasp escapes my lips, and he stops me for a moment._

"_Agent, are you alright?" he concernedly asks. I try to cover up my actions by hunching over and holding my abdomen._

"_I'm fine, Captain. Just get me out of here… Please." _

_He nods, as he drapes my right arm over his shoulders and supports my waist._

"_Understood, Agent."_

_He's a sweet, respectful guy. I look once more at his face – he's got those radiant blue orbs and prominent brows. He reminds me of Henry… Or at least what he might look like in fifteen years. I smile at the thought of my son, and I find myself thanking the big man upstairs for sparing my life. Maybe I will get to see my boys again. _

"_JJ!" Sergeant Johnston joins in, keeping a firm but steady grasp on my waist._

"_Sergeant," I weakly greet._

"_Glad to see you're alive," she chuckles. I can't help but grin._

_As we exit the cave, I see a weak, unrelenting and injured Mateo Cruz waiting, along with Erin._

_That crazy bastard!_

_Still, I manage to sport a smile, happy to see that he's alright. He makes his way toward me, taking me into his embrace. I cringe from the screaming pain of my injuries, but continue with the pleasant gesture. I'm just happy to see him._

"_My God, JJ, what were you thinking?!" he fretted. I manage to release a pained chuckle. _

"_I was thinking that this team was in need of a saviour. You're welcome, by the way," I breathe out. He chuckles, as Sergeant Johnston and her team of medics place me onto a field stretcher. _

"_Don't you ever do that again, understand? I could've lost you!" _

_I simply nod. I'm too weak to respond, but the tears streaming from my face must have said it all. I begin to feel weary, and soon, I find myself blacking out._

* * *

**26 JANUARY 2011, 9:03 AM – JENNIFER JAREAU**

_My body shoots up, and I scream out in pain. My heart rate increases._

"_Shh, shh, it's okay JJ, you're safe! You're going to be okay!"_

_I nod, looking into Sergeant Johnston's deep, green eyes. She's such a lovely woman. She continues to comfort me, as I look around. We're still in the transport convoy. A blanket covers my body, and I'm thankful. I slowly shift my right hand towards my wound, hoping the chip is still in there. I bite my lip as hard as I can as I stick my finger in the wound, and it touches a hard object. Yep, it's definitely in there. _

_Thankfully the wound was a through and through, so there'd be no need for them to go digging for a bullet. However, for the wound that I just ripped open again… It might need to be repaired. I lay back down, closing my eyes once more._

_If there really is a mole in this team, then this chip isn't safe. I have to keep it in there until we find the bastard mole._

* * *

The team had been separated into three choppers; in the first were FBI Pilot Garrett Martin, Aaron, Alex, and David. In the second were FBI Pilot Cassandra Robinson, Spencer, Derek, and Major Price. In the last of the choppers were FBI Pilot Justin Casey, Emily, and Mateo.

"_Sir, I spot three men at the north entrance of the factory," _Garcia advised through their earpieces. She was back at the BAU headquarters heading a small team of tech analysts overseeing JJ's rescue. Thanks to Matt and Emily's resources, they'd allowed for Penelope, Anderson and Gina to use the Satellite technology to make this a little easier on the team.

"Thanks, Garcia." Aaron addressed.

They were about five minutes away from the landing pad near the factory Penelope said JJ might be held in.

And they'd prayed to God that she was right.

* * *

AN: Hey there! I'd planned to update yesterday, but there was something wrong with my account - I kept getting an error message! Here's the latest update. I think I've finally gotten the hang of things, I've already written chapters 14 and 15, just waiting for the right moments to upload them :) Thank you all so much for keeping up with me and my terrible updating, and thank you to everyone who's kept their patience with me and my other story, "The Inspiration - AU." I haven't quite abandoned it yet, I'm just having a rough time trying to figure out my next step. And I know you guys might be a little frustrated, but rest assured, once I finish this story, I will get right back to it! Thank you for all the support!


	14. Dancing With the Devil

AN: brace for impact.

* * *

**CHAPTER 14**

She was rudely awakened by the sound of Smith, Barker, and a few of their men barging in through the doors, mumbling things at each other. She could hear the faint sound of gunshots reverberate through the factory – the cavalry had arrived. She valiantly grinned, knowing that her team had found her. Smith had come up to her, cutting through her binds, and releasing her from the chains that hung from the ceiling. Barker was behind her, pointing his gun toward her direction.

A wave of relief shot through her body, as she collapsed down from the awful position she'd been kept in for hours. She'd fallen straight to the ground, on her knees, only for her face to be greeted by Daniel's foot.

"They're here! How the hell did they find us?!" he yelled at her. She pushed her body up, slowly turning her head around, staring at the olive-skinned man.

Though she was in an incredible amount of pain, the petite blonde managed to flash her bloodstained teeth, grinning.

"It was only a matter of time, jackass." She smirked.

Daniel was about to kick her in the face again, when Jonathan stopped him.

"Barker, no! You need to get the hell out of here! Now! I'll deal with her and her team."

Daniel had backed off, making his way to the door with his men, who were carrying military-grade submachine guns. It didn't look good.

"Make it quick, I'm blowing this place up."

Smith nodded. He'd grabbed JJ by the arm, roughly picking her up, slapping handcuffs on her hands. He trained his gun on her, threatening to shoot her if she decided to make a move. She obeyed – her chances of making it out alive became slimmer and slimmer by the second. He pulled her over to the side, where a tray of syringes and vials had been scattered across a metal table. She struggled against him, but was unable to stop him from injecting her with a sedative.

"Don't worry, you won't feel a thing."

Her body began to feel weakened by the drug, but it hadn't knocked her out just yet.

He dragged her to the north exit, where flights of stairs would take them straight to the roof of the building.

"You know, I'm kind of disappointed our time together was so short. You may not have given up the chip, but we'll find it regardless. But I do have to kill you."

A shiver violated her spine. He wasn't kidding around. This guy was mission oriented. If he were unable to get the chip from her, then there'd be no stopping him from killing her. A tear streamed down her face, as he continued shoving her up the stairs. She'd become awfully weak from the previous beatings. She was bleeding out; the incisions from her previous wounds from three years ago had been ripped open. Her ribcage looked like a mess again, and her face didn't look or feel any better. She could have sworn the entire left side of her face was completely swollen, and her left eye and eyebrow nearly nonexistent. Even she was unsure if she'd make it, if the team rescued her regardless. She could feel the life slowly drain out of her body.

* * *

The team had separated into three teams, along with members of SWAT. Penelope had called them in while they were still in the air. Derek wanted to covertly assault the factory, like they'd done so three years ago, but the helicopters gave them away. They came in with a bang.

"Go, go, go!" Derek ordered through their earpieces. In a flash, all members and SWAT officers had assaulted the building. Gunfire had consumed the factory.

"_Derek, there's two men in the hallway through the west entrance."_ Penelope advised. Spencer followed closely behind Derek, whom was behind the SWAT officers leading their group. Spencer used the tablet as a guide for them to assault the factory. Major Price followed along. Gunfire sprayed in their direction, and all three of them ducked into cover behind the shelving and machinery.

It brought up memories of his time in Iraq with JJ and Matt. He shook his head, trying to focus on getting their girl back. Suddenly, he found himself taking cover behind some shelving, as the gunfire continued to spray in their direction.

"We're pinned!" Derek yelled out.

Penelope frantically worked to find an infrared image that could help her chocolate Adonis out. She saw that at the east side of the building, Aaron's unit had a flank.

_"Hotch, you guys have the right flank through those doors straight ahead."_ She informed.

_"Thanks Garcia."_

Aaron nodded at Alex and David, making sure they were ready.

"_We have your three, Morgan. Standby,"_ Aaron addressed. He gestured for the SWAT officers to make their move through the door, into the room their teammates were in. Alex nodded as well, as she saw the thermal images of the men pinning Derek's unit against the wall.

Derek breathed in, looking at Major Price, nodding to fire back at the bastards pinning them down. They collectively shot up, shooting back at the men. They'd watched as Aaron's unit stormed the room.

In the blink of an eye, the SWAT officers had shot at the terrorists – Aaron and David taking their shots as well.

"Clear!"

All seven men were instantly taken out. Derek, Spence, Major Price and the SWAT officers stood up from their position.

Derek looked over at Aaron, nodding, silently thanking him for saving their asses once more. They continued looking around the room. There'd been a second part across the room – the main area of the factory. Spencer had already made his way toward it. The young doctor frowned, as he entered it. He'd spotted the long chain that hung down from the ceiling – it was still swinging. He continued looking around his surroundings; there were newly frayed ropes and duct tape, a mixture of dried and fresh blood that had pooled all over the floor, and a trail of blood that led to the north side of the factory that Emily and Matt were covering. He'd spotted two syringes that were scattered on a metal table, along with multiple vials of BZ; a military grade incapacitating agent. His eyes had widened, thinking of the petite blonde getting helplessly injected and drugged up. Conscious flashes of Hankel and his brief dilaudid stint dominated his vision. However, he instantly shook off the memory, continuing on.

"JJ was just here." He confirmed through the mic. "Em, I think they went your direction." Emily and Matt heard, and nodded, continuing on through the north hall.

Derek, Aaron, David and Alex turned around, looking at the chain from afar. They shook their heads, trying to shake off the awful thoughts of what JJ must have gone through from their heads. Their hearts were racing, thinking of the possibility that they might be too late.

"Come on, we need to keep going. There's three more floors to cover." Derek said.

Aaron, Alex, and David had continued down the South entrance of the building – they closely followed the SWAT members leading them. They had taken out at least five more of Alliance's men, and were continuing on through the halls, and into the basement. Derek, Spence and Michael's unit had continued one floor up.

There was a lot of this factory to cover – according to the blueprints Penelope had dug up. The factory was huge; there were at least two more buildings connected to the East wing, an underground section, a boat shed, and a loading dock. However, that didn't stop them from continuing on.

Penelope had been advising Emily and Matt as well.

"_Emily and Cruz, there's a door leading to a staircase just at the end of that hallway – you guys are the closest to what looks like two people moving up toward the roof, I think its JJ and Smith! Go! Hurry, it looks like he's hurting her."_

They both exchanged worried looks, and nodded, as they sprinted up the stairs. There'd been four floors to this factory; eight flights of stairs. They tirelessly ran up, keeping their weapons trained in front of them. Emily had taken point, with Matt covering closely behind.

Matt would have none of Jonathan's crap. He was tired, worried, and pissed. He kept telling himself to take out the son of a bitch if he had a shot.

Emily hadn't lost her ability to compartmentalize. But her brain was working on overdrive – thinking of what she'd do if she found JJ dead. She promised that she'd bring the blonde back home safely; she wasn't about to break that promise.

They could still hear the chaotic sound of gunfire consuming the factory from downstairs, and the voices of each and every one of their team members yelling things through their radios. It was grueling; knowing that the lives of each team member was on the line. However, they'd both tuned them out, focusing on what laid behind the door.

Mateo placed his hand on the doorknob, looking straight into Emily's eyes. He kept a steady grasp on his glock, ready to fire if Smith tried to shoot back. Emily nodded for Matt to open the door, and in a flash, they were both through, aiming their firearms at Smith.

They were horrified at what they saw – Smith tightly keeping JJ in a chokehold, training his knife against her neck. JJ looked awful; bruised, and bloody_._ Emily tried to fight the tears from the sight of her best friend being so… _Weak_. Matt was about to lose his shit.

"You son of a bitch traitor! Let her go! It's over!" He roared.

Both sides of the party had tightened their grasp on their weapons. Matt and Emily had found themselves creeping closer and closer towards them. Jonathan yelled back, keeping his gun trained on both the agents.

"It's over when I say its over! Do you _really_ want me to slice this bitch's throat?!" he growled.

"No, Smith, you're done! You're surrounded! We have two black ops snipers trained on you right now, you're not getting out of this!" Emily yelled. Jonathan and JJ were getting uncomfortably close to the ledge of the factory. It would be at least a sixty-foot drop – a fatal drop.

Smith was visibly upset. He saw that he couldn't get out of this.

"You know what? If I can't get out of this, then she's coming with me."

Jonathan took a few steps back, using JJ's body as a shield. He quickly drew his gun, pointing it at Mateo.

Two loud shots rang from his gun. He'd squeezed the trigger twice. Matt's body jolted back and he fell to the ground, and Jonathan continued staggering backward with the blonde. Emily hesitated to take the shot; JJ was completely in the line of fire.

"You don't have a shot, do you?" Jonathan laughed. Emily kept her gun trained in his direction.

"Just let her go!" she screamed. All he did was smirk.

"Too late." He rapidly shifted the knife from JJ's neck, and plunged it into the blonde's stomach. A loud grunt escaped her lips, as Emily screamed out JJ's name. JJ collapsed onto her knees; the knife was still stuck in her body. Without a second thought, Emily had fired three rounds into the direction of Jonathan's chest. Vivid, erratic flashes of Doyle stabbing her with the chair leg consumed her vision, mixing it with reality.

There was a slight pause, as Jonathan stumbled backward, and over the ledge, but not without pulling the petite blonde down with him.

"No!" Emily cried, sprinting toward their direction, as she watched the both of them fall over the ledge.


	15. Man Down

**CHAPTER 15**

Emily lunged at her best friend. Half her body dangled over the ledge, as she immediately grabbed the arm of the blonde, who was barely hanging onto dear life, let alone the edge of a sixty-foot building. Her other arm and foot kept her grounded on the ledge, preventing her from falling over. Emily looked down, staring dead into the eyes of the man who had just stabbed the blonde agent. He was still alive, holding onto JJ's leg. His eyes met with Emily's, and flashed a rueful, bloody grin.

"Can't… Get… Rid… Of… Me… So… Easily…" he breathed. He began tugging away at JJ's leg, hoping to bring the two of them down with him. JJ released a ghastly scream of pain, as her wounds started to rip open even further. Emily cringed, as she felt completely helpless. She was unable to grab her gun – if she tried to move her arm holding onto the ledge, then all three of them would go down.

It was no good.

"Em…" JJ quietly breathed, as she navigated her eyes toward the knife embedded in her abdomen.

"Jayje no! You'll bleed out!" Emily cried, as she shook her head side to side.

JJ convincingly nodded. "I have to," she insisted, as she ripped the knife out of her body. She screamed out in pain. Jonathan looked up into her eyes one last time, as she used all the energy she possibly had left in her body to fling the knife at his throat.

He let go of his tight grip on her leg, holding onto his throat. He pummeled to the ground, straight to his death. JJ's body nearly fell limp – but she was still hanging on.

The load in Emily's hands became significantly lighter. Using all the strength she had in her, she attempted to get the blonde back up the ledge.

But it was incredibly difficult; JJ was dangling too far down the ledge, and Emily's legs weren't strong enough to bring the both of them back over. All she could do was hold on.

Vivid flashes of Emily's time in Paris with JJ had consumed her vision. She remembered staring into the blonde's gorgeous and sincere eyes; eyes that'd been wishing her luck, as she was about to embark on a journey she had no idea would lead her. Now, she found herself staring into the same eyes of that friend – tired, and darker from its normal radiant blue tint. JJ was there for her in her time of need; Emily wasn't just about to let JJ go so she'd be unable to return the favour.

She knew how much pain JJ was in; the leg of a wooden chair was almost comparable, but by what had just happened…

Emily had shut her eyes momentarily.

JJ, who was barely hanging onto her life, mumbled a few words to Emily, which brought the brunette to tears.

"Em… We're never going to make it out of here. Just let me go…"

JJ knew what she had to lose if she gave up and let go. _Her son. Her husband. Her_ _family_.

But she was unable to cope with the pain that had dominated her entire body; it was too much for her to bear. And to risk the life of the agent that was half-dangling over the ledge just to keep holding onto her? She couldn't risk that. She knew how important Emily's life was.

She'd let tears fall from her face, and the brunette saw.

Emily continued to sob, shaking her head side to side. The last four words had stung her heart like a million raging fires, as she too, had said the exact same words to Derek three years ago." She saw the blood that was seeping through her shirt from the wounds – she knew JJ was in an excruciating amount of pain.

She knew the feeling of wanting the pain to end.

She knew the feeling of accepting the fate she felt she was doomed to.

"Jayje, no!"

Her tears began falling uncontrollably. The blonde weakly smiled.

"It' okay…" she wheezed. Blood-riddled saliva was dripping out of her mouth.

"Jayje, I am _not_ letting you go!" Emily tearfully choked out. She refused to let go. Hell, she'd even go down with her if it meant staying with her.

But the blonde was ready to let go.

She was about to let go of the brunette's hold, when Matt lunged at Emily's side to help pull the poor blonde up with her. Emily let out a huge cry of gratitude when they got her back over the ledge. She sat up and pulled the younger agent into a protective embrace. She wrapped her arms around her friend, refusing to let go of her.

JJ was now barely hanging onto consciousness, half-passed out in Emily's lap. Matt lay on the ground on his side next to the two of them, still trying to shake off the awful gut-wrenching adrenaline rush of getting shot sweeping through his body. He'd slowly removed the Kevlar vest covering his chest, as he continued keeping pressure on the blonde's stab wound. Her breathing was extremely shallow, but she was alive.

It was the only thing that mattered.

"We're okay. We're gonna be okay," he breathed out.

They just sat on the ground in silence, just listening to the sound of JJ's laboured breathing.

The entire team had been listening in through their radios. They were all taken aback by the heart-wrenching intensity of the moment and brought to tears, hearing their Jayje pleading for Emily to let go, and hearing Emily crying out loud. Penelope had burst into hysterics throughout the entire thing. Even Anderson and Gina had been trying to fight back tears during the chaos. They all felt so… Helpless.

It'd felt like the weight of the entire world had been lifted off their shoulders when they heard that Matt had jumped in to save them.

Each and every one of their hearts had been pounding tremendously to the extremity of the moment.

However, the bittersweet moment was cut short, when a loud crash was heard, and Derek started yelling over the radios for Barker – they'd missed a floor, and he was trying to escape. The team instantly recomposed themselves, and scrambled around along with SWAT to go after Barker, as the other half went in to see if there were any more men in hiding. They'd been distracted by Emily and Matt saving JJ, but it was completely understandable.

"_Em? You three need to get the hell out of there right now!"_ Aaron stammered. Emily and Matt nodded at each other, helping each other get up, while lifting JJ off the ground. Emily carefully draped JJ's right arm over her shoulder, and supported the left side of her waist. Matt supported the other side of her waist, and the three of them slowly made their way down.

The team had split up into the same groups, continuing on with covering the building. Gunfire had erupted on the second floor.

"_Hotch! Barker is headed up to the third floor!"_ Derek yelled. Their unit had been trying to evade the gunfire that came form Barker's men, which allowed for Daniel to escape. Derek, Michael, and Spencer had ducked into cover. The damn terrorists were using submachine guns; they were outgunned.

"_I've got Barker!" _He paused, and continued. He was ordering the other SWAT officers to go up to the second floor to help._ "You three go up and support my other unit!"_ Aaron shouted through the radio. They were still on the first floor, but there was an emergency stairwell that went all the way up.

Suddenly, the three SWAT officers in Derek's unit had boldly moved out of cover, trying to cover the three men to get the hell out of there, while trying to get a shot at the terrorists. All three officers were instantly shot down.

"Shit!" Derek shouted. Now they were really under pressure. Derek ducked back down into cover, while Michael peeked over the shelving to cover Derek and Spencer. Derek clicked the mag release button on his SIG to check how many rounds he had left. He counted three.

It wasn't looking good.

Michael watched the look on the agent's face. It didn't look good at all. Gunfire continued to erupt throughout the room; they were unrelenting bastards.

Spencer was already out of ammo from his revolver. He frantically opened up the tablet, accessing the thermal satellite images that Penelope was still transmitting to them.

"There are three men at your ten, Michael." Spencer whispered. Major Price shifted away from Derek and Spencer. Bullets had whooshed over their heads.

"I have one mag left. On the count of three, you boys get the hell out of this room!"

"No! We're not leaving you behind! We do this together!" Derek argued.

"Look, I know you're out of ammo, and I'm the only one with a rifle! You guys don't have a chance of getting out of here if you don't let me cover your asses! So on the count of three, get your asses up and right out of this room! Go back into the hallway and around the corner to flank Barker! That's an order!"

Derek displayed a pained look in his eyes, knowing that this man was about to give up his own life to save theirs. Michael exchanged a playful grin, saying that it everything was going to be okay. He cocked his rifle, getting ready to fire.

"One, two, three."

Major Price shot up, opening fire at the men that Spencer saw from the tablet. All three men went down, and he continued on through the room. In a heartbeat, the two profilers sprinted and slid their way toward the door, shutting it the moment they reached through it. They evaded the gunfire, as it ripped through the thin metal doors.

They were on their way up to the third floor when they heard the gunfire had stopped. Derek wanted to believe that Price had finished them off and made it out alive. But when the shots stopped from both parties, he knew that Price was gone. He shook his head, paying his respects to their fallen comrade.

_Damn._

Still, they continued on. Derek had picked up a discarded rifle from a dead terrorist, and checked the mag. It was three-quarters loaded. It was good enough.

Spencer picked up a fully loaded glock 19, and followed closely behind Derek – he would've picked up a rifle, but he still didn't possess the extended weapons training.

"_Morgan? Reid? Price? You alright?"_ Aaron whispered.

"Price is down, but we're good. Taking the north side of the third level. Where's Barker, Garcia?" Derek asked.

"_I'm picking up a lone thermal trace at the centre of the room. Be careful guys,"_ she responded.

Aaron, Alex and David all nodded at each other, getting ready to infiltrate the floor. Derek and Spencer had gone into position.

"Count of three. One, two, three."

All five agents stormed the room from both the north and south entrances, finding Barker sitting in a chair in the centre. Penelope was right.

He turned towards Aaron's direction, pointing one gun at Aaron, and pointing another toward the ceiling's steam pipes. Aaron stepped closer towards the terrorist bastard.

"I'd be _really_ careful, agent. There's five barrels of ammonium nitrate on this floor alone, and another twenty scattered across this building. One pull of this trigger and this whole place goes up in flames. So either you let me go, or I blow all of us straight to hell. And I'd really hate if an itchy trigger finger is the reason we all go up in flames. Wouldn't you agree, agent?"

Everyone gripped their weapons tighter. It only took Aaron a few seconds to profile the man's behaviour, and he'd come down to one conclusion:

_Suicide bomber._

He'd would blow the place up, regardless of their actions. He eyed for Derek to go for the kill shot.

Daniel observed the older agent's eye movement.

"Wrong choice."

He moved his arm, ready to shoot the pipe, when five shots rang out from both sides. Each one of them had taken a shot; all in which were for JJ. Daniel had dropped his weapons, falling onto his knees. However, the screeching sound of steam escaped into the room. They knew they didn't take him down before shooting the pipes. They had about two minutes before the floor would become hot, blowing the ammonium nitrate up.

"Get out! It's gonna blow!" Derek shouted. All five agents rushed toward the staircase. Every officer and member that was connected through the radio system had heard and cleared out of the building.

They had about a minute and thirty seconds before the building would blow up. They continued rushing down the emergency staircase, fearing for their lives.

All five members made it to the front, meeting up with the SWAT officers, who were still pushing them further away from the building to prevent injury.

Spencer had stopped.

"Where's Emily, JJ, and Cruz?!" He shouted.

Everyone's eyes had widened, unsure if the trio had heard about the explosives rigged around the factory. They began shouting each of their names out. Derek wanted to run back, but was held back by a SWAT officer.

"What are you doing man?! Three of our own is still in there!" Derek yelled.

"You know I can't do that Agent Morgan! You need to stay back!"

He pushed the officer off, continuing to shout for the rest of their team members. Everyone continued screaming out for JJ, Emily and Cruz. There was no sign of them. Each of their hearts had begun to pound at an alarming rate from the adrenaline and anxiousness that dominated their bodies, scared for the lives of the three agents.

Then a violent blast erupted, as flames shot into the night sky.


	16. Cryptic Chapter Title

**CHAPTER 16**

A piercing hiss rang through everyone's ears. The SWAT officers pushed themselves off the ground, assisting the other members who'd been knocked down by the blast. There'd been debris all over the place, and pieces of metal and wood scattered around the area. Police officers, firefighters, and medics had made their way onto the scene, along with a dozen more federal agents to contain the area. There were men in bomb suits that came to contain what was left of the explosives placed around the perimeter. There were people running all over the place, shouting things at each other, pointing, nodding, directing.

It was chaotic.

Derek pushed himself up, brushing off the debris off his body. He stared at the burning factory in horror. He refused to believe that the three agents didn't make it out of there – he just wouldn't accept it.

He continued shouting out their names, praying that they'd be okay. But after minutes of shouting, it seemed hopeless.

Aaron had walked up to Derek, placing a hand on his shoulder. The man had burst into tears. Aaron had taken him into a brotherly embrace, comforting the man who'd just lost his partner and friend.

David, Alex, and Spencer had also watched as their boss hugged their friend. They were brought to tears, holding each other for comfort.

"No!" Spencer cried. He broke away from David and Alex's embrace, when David spoke up.

"Spence…"

The young doctor kept his teary eyes locked on the flaming building and fell to his knees. He wept, as he cursed himself for not being able to help his two best friends. He wasn't there to save them this time.

The five members circled around the young genius, helping him up. Right now, they needed each other more than ever.

Then, one of the SWAT members began shouting some words.

"Wait! Look! Over there!"

In the midst of the chaotic scene, SWAT officers had started running towards three silhouettes that emerged from the flames in the distance. They couldn't believe their eyes. As they got closer, it seemed all too real.

They'd made it out alive.

"Oh my God!" Alex cried, as she made her way toward the figures.

Everyone ran towards the trio – they were alright. All five members released a huge sigh of relief and gratitude.

_They're okay._

Emily was still holding onto a weak JJ, as was Matt. The SWAT officers accompanied them straight to the ambulances.

Matt was checked into the second ambulance for the shots he'd taken earlier. Just as he suspected, they told him he had a few fractured ribs. Emily was getting checked out in the same ambulance they were about to load JJ into. They checked her old scars from her stabbing for stretching.

But she was alright – she told the medics to tend to her blonde friend instead of herself. JJ needed all the help she could get. Emily waved the medic off and walked up to the stretcher JJ laid in. Watching her being surrounded by multiple medics took her aback; the injuries that had laced her entire body looked so much worse than they looked under the dim lighting from the roof of the factory. But she was unable to do anything – all she could do was helplessly watch.

At this point, no one had said anything – no words were needed to express how thankful they were that the three of them made it out alive. Each and every one of them had taken each other into their arms, hugging, and tearing up. They'd observed the injuries JJ had sustained, and her injuries had completely taken them aback – she'd taken a ridiculous beating. Her face was riddled with blood. Her left eye was completely swollen, and a dark bruise had formed along her left cheekbone. Her left brow was nearly nonexistent, thanks to a large gash than ran along it. Another large gash ran along under her already-swollen eye, connecting to the bridge of her nose, which was obviously broken. Her bottom lip was split wide open, and they all flinched when she began coughing out blood. They watched helplessly, as the medics loaded a barely conscious JJ onto a gurney. They'd carefully taped some gauze over the left portion of her face and over her nose to allow for the oxygen mask to be placed on her face. They immediately got an IV started. The other medic had been keeping pressure on her stab wound.

However, in her near-unconscious trance, she acknowledged the presence of her team behind the medics, shedding a tear. They all saw. Aaron was the first to speak.

"Jayje…" he choked. For once, Aaron had removed the tough-guy façade, showing his true self to the blonde agent. She teared up from the emotion she felt from her boss, and the rest of the team as well. None of them even remotely cared how vulnerable they looked to the SWAT officers, medics, and firefighters. They were a tightly knit family, and families always stick together. They wanted to show that.

The seven of them circled around JJ and the medics. They'd done it. They'd found her, and they'd found her _alive._

She half-consciously observed the seven teary-eyed faces surrounding her. It was a sweet moment until Emily managed to crack the silence with a joke.

"Why is it that whenever something huge happens I always almost get blown up?"

They all collectively smiled and laughed. Emily grinned and looked into Aaron's eyes, thankful that she'd managed to lighten up the mood. He couldn't help but smile either.

All of them had turned their attention to the woman on the gurney when she managed to crack a smile as well. However, the simple gesture turned into a blood-riddled cough.

"Jayje, save your energy!" she said worriedly. JJ nodded, as she placed her head back down. Emily walked over, and reached for her hand.

"You're the strongest and bravest woman I know. Just hang in there Jayje."

The team collectively nodded in agreement. They'd already heard what she'd been through in Iraq. They saw what she had gone through in the past fifteen hours – the injuries that laced her body from head to toe were evidence enough.

"She's a fighter," David valiantly addressed, proud of this young woman.

"Heart of a bull." Derek added. He gently took her hand and kissed it, and then carefully placed a kiss on her forehead.

No further words were needed to express the adoration, pride, and integrity they felt for their team member. They were thankful for her. She was an American hero.

She was their hero.

An uneasy feeling of dizziness had swept over JJ's body, and she felt like she was ready to pass out. Her eyelids began to feel heavy, and darkness soon consumed her vision.

"I'm sorry agents, but we have to go, right now. She's losing too much blood."

They all understood. They backed off the medics, allowing them to continue working on their friend. They watched as they loaded her into the ambulance.

"What hospital are you taking her to?" Spencer quietly asked, as the last medic entered the ambulance.

"Johns Hopkins." The medic nodded. Spencer thanked him, as he closed the door and tapped the back of the window allowing for the ambulance to leave. The lights and sirens were turned on, and watched the ambulance speed off. Quite frankly, Spence was thankful they were in Baltimore – Johns Hopkins is arguably one of the best hospitals in the world. He knew she'd be in great hands.

The agents didn't have to think twice about their next move – they all made their way to the SUV's and drove off to the hospital. They needed to be there for JJ.

"Emily, could you call Will from the SUV? He needs to know we found her and that she's alive."

Emily nodded, complying with the orders of her former boss. It really was nice, working with her old team again. However, it confirmed her reason for taking the Interpol job in the first place – it was extremely dangerous, and the night's events rested her case. But she never regret helping out. She was thankful for the adrenaline rush it had given her; something she hadn't felt in years. It was completely worth it, saving her best friend's life. She'd give up her life to save hers, any day.

They'd split into two groups to occupy the two SUV's that had been provided. Aaron, Emily, Spencer and Matt were to take the first SUV. Derek, Alex and David took the second.

Aaron opened the door to the first SUV and pulled out his phone as he started the vehicle. He scrolled through his contacts and tapped the screen.

"Garcia?" he greeted. He was greeted with a quivered voice over the line.

"_Sir! Oh my God is she okay?!" _she stammered.

"She's a fighter, Garcia."

"_Hotch! What the hell is that supposed to mean?! She's in need of a hospital isn't she! Oh my God!"_

"Garcia, don't freak out! I know you're worried about her, but I need you to focus. Do you think you can do that?"

"_I guess."_

"Good. I need you to arrange a chopper for Will, Henry and yourself. You're all coming here as soon as possible."

"_Is she going to be alright?"_ there was an evident anxiousness that consumed her voice. Aaron understood that – helplessly listening to Emily and Mateo over the radio system was torture; being an hour away from the action, stuck behind a computer was even worse.

"She'll pull through. She's a tough one. Johns Hopkins Hospital landing pad."

"_Okay, sir. I'll see you in a bit."_

"See you."

He put his phone back into his pocket. He waited for Emily, Spencer, and Matt to enter the vehicle before driving off.

* * *

AN: woooah how intense was that? thanks for all the reviews and kind words my friends :) more great stuff to come in the near future!


	17. Johns Hopkins Hospital

**CHAPTER 17**

* * *

**ONE HOUR AGO**

"_Emily? Oh God, please tell me you've got good news," Will stammered. Emily could hear the weariness in his voice. She could tell he hasn't slept at all since he made the call almost seventeen hours ago._

"_We found her, Will. We found her in a factory in Baltimore, and she's being transported to Johns Hopkins as we speak."_

"_Oh God! How bad is she?" He teared up. There was a long pause in between before anyone spoke._

"_It's… It's bad, Will. Just… Just get down to the FBI building, Aaron's arranged for a chopper to take you, Henry, and Garcia here in twenty minutes." She quivered._

"_Oh God, okay, um… I'll be right there." _

"_Okay. I'll see you in a bit." She said._

"_I'll see you, Emily." He paused momentarily before adding on. "Oh, and Emily?"_

"_Yes?"_

"_Thank you. For everything. I owe you." He knew she was a hell of a woman. First, she'd saved him from blowing up two years ago, then, just earlier; she'd saved his wife? He was in debt to her._

"_Don't worry about it, Will. I'm always going to be there for you guys, you know that. I'll see you later."_

_He silently nodded, hanging up the phone. A huge wave of relief ran through his spine, knowing that they'd found his wife. He'd spent the past seventeen hours going through a range of emotions, thinking about her. He couldn't eat. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't imagine the pain and suffering she'd gone through that would send her to the hospital. He'd cried for her, slammed his fists into the walls of their house, sat on the kitchen floor for hours on end, helplessly waiting for an update – but there was nothing. He'd almost gotten the feeling like they weren't getting anywhere._

_But they did._

_So he ran up the stairs, straight into Henry's room. He hoped that he didn't wake up the boy, but he was already up, just waiting for news about his momma._

"_Did they find her?" he asked. Will looked back into the large, pure eyes of his son._

"_Yes they did, little man. We're gonna see her, right now."_

_The little guy nodded, as Will grabbed extra clothes for Henry, and his favourite toy. He quickly walked into his and JJ's bedroom, grabbing a small duffle bag, putting the items in it. He'd grabbed extra clothing, a few toothbrushes, a razor, toothpaste, lotion, facecloths, deodorant, and a few other toiletries. _

_Soon, the both of them had made their way down the stairs and out of the house. They entered his car, and they were off to FBI's headquarters._

* * *

Will sat in the waiting room along with the other agents. They were all patiently waiting for an update on JJ. Will, Penelope, and Henry hand landed an hour into her surgery – they'd already told him of her condition. He was fighting tears, hearing of the horrendous things that she'd been through. He cursed himself for not seeing through her earlier. He was upset with himself for not being able to protect her and prevent this. He continued cupping his face in his hands. Aaron walked over to comfort him.

"She'll pull through, Will. She's a fighter."

He looked back into the sincere eyes of the older agent, nodding. No words were needed for both of them to understand the power and truth behind what was just said.

Penelope was holding Henry, who'd fallen asleep in her lap before they even reached the hospital. The poor boy was exhausted – no one could blame him. He was worried sick, as was his father. She continued listening to the rhythmic sound of his little breaths.

Spencer, Alex, and David had returned from the hospital cafeteria, bringing back trays of coffee for the rest of the team. They were all exhausted from the events of the night – it wasn't likely for anyone to deny a cup of coffee.

Spencer walked over and handed one to Emily, then to Matt, who'd been sitting alone in the corner seat, across from her. She looked nervous – biting her nails, gazing off into the distance.

"Emily? Are you okay?" he asked. She hesitated for a moment.

"Yeah, Reid. I'm just tired. Thanks for the coffee," she replied.

The truth was she was completely fine; she just didn't know how she felt at the moment. She was sitting in front of the man who she'd trusted, but apparently didn't trust her with his and JJ's secret. She was distraught, but she understood _why_ they had to keep it a secret; she'd done the same thing to this team three years ago.

She thought about the rooftop, dangling over the ledge of that building, holding onto JJ, and listening to her beg for her to end her life. It was stressful and incredibly damaging. JJ, who was always so full of life and energy, wanting to end it all in that very moment? She couldn't imagine half of the crap that JJ was put through in Iraq, let alone having to keep a monster of a secret from this team. However, she did feel a little guilty that she couldn't help JJ out sooner. She felt like she could have prevented it, if she'd known about the conspiracy sooner...

_No. I couldn't have seen it. We couldn't have known._

Emily shook her head, shaking off her thoughts. She was just overthinking it. There's no way they could have known that there was a conspiracy against JJ's old unit, let alone a personal vendetta against the petite blonde. What JJ was wishing for on the roof? Emily realized that she was wishing for her life to end because she broke.

They'd broken her.

And she felt completely helpless to stop it.

But JJ's a fighter. She was stronger than anyone she's ever known. And she had faith that she'd overcome this. She had to believe that she would.

Emily took another sip of her coffee, and shifted around, trying to find a comfortable position in the most uncomfortable seat.

However, it was pointless, as Dr. Cassidy Johansson came in, and everyone found themselves on their feet, anxiously waiting for the news. Emily and Spencer got up and made their way closer to the group, to hear what the doctor had to say.

"Anything, doctor?" Aaron asked. She was a young doctor – brunette, olive-skinned, beautiful blue-gray eyes, maybe in her early to mid thirties. The doctor waited a moment before speaking, making eye contact with each and every one of the agents standing in the room.

"She came in with extensive injuries to the face and abdomen. Our main concern was the puncture wound in her torso, as well as the internal bleeding from a punctured lung from her broken ribs. Thankfully, there were no complications in the repair – we've managed to contain the bleeding from the inside, and we've set her ribs, which means she's able to breathe on her own. She'll be unable to move her body for a few days, but she'll be okay. As for her facial injuries… We've set her nose and stitched up the gashes. They'll heal on their own, it'll just take time."

"Thank you, doctor." Aaron replied.

"Is she awake right now?" Emily asked.

"She is, but she's still a little groggy from the anesthetic and pain meds we've put her on." Emily nodded. Spencer sincerely eyed the doctor. There was something different about this doctor – and he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"When can we see her?" he asked.

The doctor turned her attention to the other doctor, making eye contact with him. Spencer subtly widened his eyes – she reminded him of Maeve. However, he continued listening to her.

"Normally, I'd only allow for her husband and child to see her at the moment, but given the very… Unique circumstance, all of you can see her. Just... Behave yourselves." She smiled. "I think it'd be best if you started off going in small groups at different times. She may be a little overwhelmed, but I can assure you she'll be just fine."

"Thank you." Aaron thanked one more time.

The doctor nodded before leaving the agents. They all had agreed to let Will and Henry see her first, then slowly make their way up in small groups of three. Will picked Henry up from his godmother's embrace, and followed the nurse that walked into the room.

She escorted Will and Henry up to the ICU room that his wife was in. Henry was still sound asleep in his arms.

They walked down a hallway and stopped at room 12 – JJ's room. Will thanked the nurse as she walked off. He took a large breath before entering. He didn't know what to expect.

He opened up the door and moved the curtain out of the way. He silently gasped, as he saw his wife lay on that bed.

She looked so… _Fragile_.

However, she wasn't asleep. She was aware of the extra presence in the room, and moved her arm around.

"Hey you," Will whispered. She instantly warmed up to the sound of her husbands' voice.

"Will," she weakly replied. She was still a little loopy from the heavy pain meds and sedatives that the doctors had given her. She wasn't really supposed to wake up, but she'd become so used to different kinds of drugs that she'd been able to overpower them. She tried to move her body.

"Jayje, it's okay. Don't do that, you'll hurt yourself more." He cautioned.

She obliged to his concern and stayed in the same position.

Will set Henry on the chair and gently took her hand, and kissed it. He observed the injuries that laced her face. He knew that it was bad, he just didn't know it was _this_ bad.

"Oh my God, Jayje. I am so sorry this happened… I should have protected you. Oh God! I'm such an idiot! I should've known your State Department job was dangerous…" he cried. She moved her hand up to his face, as she looked into his eyes.

"Will, babe, It's not your fault this happened to me. If anything it's my fault…" she breathed. She was still exhausted and weak. The ability to form full sentences was draining, but she needed to talk to her husband.

She could see the pain and sadness in his eyes.

"But you got hurt, and I couldn't protect you... And you got hurt in Iraq too! How come you didn't tell me any of this?" he worriedly asked.

She closed her eyes momentarily. This had always been a touchy subject for her… Not only did she have to keep her secret from the team, but also from the only man she's ever truly trusted. She blatantly lied to him, and he knew it. However, she did have a definite answer – not an excuse.

"Will… I had to keep it from you to protect you. If they'd known that I had a husband and a son, they would have taken you two away from me…" she paused. Tears threatened to fall from her good eye. "… And they would have killed the both of you. And you know I wouldn't be able to live with that, Will. I'd give my life up to protect yours and Henry's, without a doubt. That's why I had to keep it a secret. I'm… I'm so sorry."

The tears began to freely fall. Will half-smiled, as he gently kissed her hand, and then her forehead.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I love you, Jennifer Jareau. My vow to you was to stand by your side, no matter what the cost may be. And that's what I'm doing right now."

He leaned in a little closer toward her to kiss her. She tearfully smiled, remembering the happiest day of her life. She shifted her weight just enough to kiss him back. It was painful, but completely worth it.

The intimate moment was cut short, when they both heard Henry groan from the chair. They both shifted their attention to their son, who'd watched them kiss the entire time. They'd woken him up. They both chuckled, as Will picked him up and put him down beside his momma.

"Okay, buddy. Now, you gotta be careful with momma, she's still a little hurt." Will said. Henry nodded, staring down.

"Hey, buddy." She tearfully smiled. She was worried her little boy would be overwhelmed by her injuries and the looks of her face. She probably looked like a monster to him. However, his response caught her by surprise.

"Did you get the bad guys?"

JJ chuckled. "Yes we did, hun."

"Did the bad guys do to this to you?" he innocently asked.

She teared up, knowing that the concern that was coming from her little boy was genuine.

"Yes the bad guys did this to me, but I'll be fine little man," she answered. Henry still seemed a little unsatisfied; he knew she wasn't _really_ okay. Still, he continued talking to her. He always loved having conversations with his mum.

"Is mommy okay?" He asked, carefully observing her face. He didn't want to make any sudden movements that would injure her further. He carefully drew his finger along the right side of her face, observing her injuries. He saw that the other side of her face was swollen and bruised. There were stitches lining across her brow and underneath her swollen eye, connecting all the way to her nose. He frowned, seeing how hurt his momma was.

"Mommy's going to be okay." She replied.

"Promise?" he asked.

"I promise, baby." She wrapped her arms around him, and he reciprocated the gesture.

Henry knew what a promise meant.

"Okay momma," he smiled. He carefully kissed her on the cheek. "I love you!" he squealed, as he laid his head next to hers. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep in her arms once again. Will kissed the both of them, before taking a seat in the chair.

"I love you both, more than anything in this world." He whispered, as he carefully draped his arm over their bodies in a protective manner, before dozing off to sleep.

All three of them had fallen asleep, and the eight members saw through the window. They all agreed that the 'small group' thing wasn't going to work for them, because they all wanted to see JJ right away. However, the moment they saw the LaMontagne family fall asleep, they decided it would be best if they came back in the morning. The family needed to be alone, and they needed to be with each other at the moment.

So they all made their way back into the waiting room – where they'd all fall asleep and come back upstairs to see her in the morning. They weren't going to leave the hospital.

They needed to make sure she knew they were there the whole time for her.

She deserved that much.

* * *

AN: Ahh guys to be honest, I cried writing the last three chapters. (just evidence of how emotionally unstable i currently am, and will probably be made worse when 200 actually airs. I really hope it goes nothing like how I've written it. I'm completely crazy.) Anyway, thank you for the kind words! I really can't thank you enough! Every day, when I check my email and see that you guys have left such kind words, it really does bring a huge smile to my face! More great stuff to come later! Until then! xoxo


	18. Road To Recovery (Again)

**CHAPTER 18**

Emily playfully slapped a snoring Derek awake.

"Good morning, princess," she teased. Derek groaned, slapping Emily's hand away from his face.

"Hey, just cause you're back doesn't mean you get to steal my punch line," he mumbled. Emily chuckled, as she handed him a coffee.

"Black, just how you like it."

"Aw, you know me too well." He thanked. "I've missed you... Never really got a chance to say hello."

"Well, given the events of last night, I doubt that a proper 'hello' was in order." Emily chuckled.

"I guess. I'm really glad you came back to help... I don't know what I'd do if we lost JJ." he admitted.

"Me too."

He put an arm around her, as they waited for the rest of the team to come back from the cafeteria. Penelope was still asleep on Derek's lap, and Spencer had fallen asleep on the chairs behind them. They'd spent all night in the waiting room. The nurses and doctors seemed to be amused by the fact that eight fully-grown adults had fallen asleep, even some snoring, in the hospital waiting room. There were other people in the waiting room as well, carefully eyeing the team, not realizing they were federal agents. However, when Derek pulled his holster back to his hip, they knew.

Derek carefully moved a piece of hair out of Penelope's face, kissing her forehead.

"Time to wake up, princess." He greeted. She smiled, as she opened her eyes.

"I had a dream that I woke up, and prince charming was right over me, and poof – here you are." They both chuckled, as he helped her sit up. Aaron, David, Alex and Mateo came back from the cafeteria, holding trays of coffee and a box of muffins. Surely the agents were starving – they hadn't eaten since coming back from their last case, before JJ was abducted. Muffins would have to suffice.

"Do you think they're awake now?" Spencer quietly asked, while grabbing a coffee from Alex.

"I'm not sure, Spence. Maybe we should ask the doctors or nurses and see."

Just their luck – Dr. Johansson walked by, as she was starting her shift. She walked by the agents, not surprised they've stayed overnight at the hospital.

"Good morning agents!" she happily greeted.

"Morning," they all synchronically replied.

"I'm probably guessing you're still here to see Agent Jareau?" she asked, to no one in particular.

"JJ, yeah. We'd hoped to see her last night, but she fell asleep with Will and Henry, so we left them alone." Aaron answered. "Do you think she's awake right now?"

Dr. Johansson checked her phone. It was only 9:30am; she doubted that Agent Jareau would be awake. However, the young agent did manage to shake off the heavy pain meds and the anesthetic from the surgery, in which Dr. Johansson was sure, would keep her knocked out until today.

"I can page JJ's nurse and see what she says." The doctor replied.

"Thank you, doctor." Aaron nodded.

They all waited patiently for that nurse to page Dr. Johansson back.

Aaron turned his attention to their section chief, which was sitting in the chair, hunching over.

"Matt, are you okay?" the question caught him by surprise. He immediately lifted his head, making eye contact with the agent.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thank God for Kevlar."

Aaron chuckled and nodded. Matt was no Erin, but he was alright. He trusted Matt with overlooking the actions of this team.

"Sorry for being so harsh on you last night. I was just worried about JJ…"

Matt cut in.

"We all were, Aaron. But I shouldn't have made JJ that secret from you guys. After last night, I realized that you guys might have been able to help her. But our time at the department was top-secret, you have to understand that."

The rest of the team nodded. Even though they were a family, they knew there were boundaries and limits.

"Well, the only thing that matters is that both of you are still breathing." Aaron assured. Matt looked back into his eyes, silently thanking him. He nodded back.

_Don't worry about it._

The team sat in silence, as Dr. Johansson walked back into the room, with a beaming smile on her face.

"I take it that she's awake?" David chuckled.

"Well, since she's fighting with the nurses right now," she laughed. "She's _wide_ awake."

"Good." Derek grinned.

"Thank you for all your help, Dr. Johansson." Aaron said, as he shook her hand. She happily nodded, leaving the agents alone. She knew they needed to see their friend.

All eight of them arose to their feet, making their way to the elevator to see their favourite little blonde.

* * *

"This is stupid, I can sit up by myself you know!" JJ weakly scoffed. She was still weak, but she wanted to sit up, and the nurses weren't allowing her to move at all. The nurses attempted to reason with her.

"We understand that you're probably feeling much, much better Agent Jareau, but you really do need to lie back down – you could rip the stitches from the incisions!"

Will couldn't help but laugh as he sat in the chair, watching his wife arguing with the nurses.

She's a tough gal.

_Good to know she's back to normal,_ he mused. Henry was asleep in his lap, but he finally decided to put Henry on the chair to try to resolve this "conflict" his little wife decided to partake in.

"Okay, Jayje, babe. I know you're feelin' a little better, but you gotta listen to these lovely ladies. They've been nothin' but helpful ever since your little butt was wheeled in here last night. Please, Jayje? Can you do that for me?"

The southern charm did the trick. His gorgeous blue eyes had hypnotized her.

"Damn you and your charm, Will" She playfully scoffed, as she lay back down on the bed. Will couldn't help but grin. He winked back at her, as the nurses thanked him for calming down their patient. In minutes, they were out the room.

She'd crossed her arms. Will knew JJ hated hospitals – they made her irritable and unreasonable; her pregnancy with Henry was evidence enough.

But he loved it.

He continued grinning at her, as he grabbed an extra pillow, placing it under her head.

"Wipe that stupid grin off your face!" she demanded. Will knew she was just playing around – he knew she loved it when she was the center of his attention. He continued to beam.

"Do you want me to recline your bed too, princess?" he teased. After seconds of silence, JJ finally relaxed her shoulders, nodding. She just couldn't say no this guy.

"You got it," He carefully kissed her forehead, as he pushed the button to recline the bed, just enough for her to sit up.

"Better?" he asked. She peered back into his eyes, nodding.

"Yeah," she smiled. It was painful to smile, but she tried anyway.

"How's the face feelin'?" he concernedly asked. She dropped her gaze, staring down. She remembered she still looked awful.

"It hurts, Will. I can't really smile or talk without my entire face feeling like it's going to explode…" she admitted. He too, had dropped his playful gaze, switching it to a serious and concerned one.

"Do you want me to grab the nurses to get you more pain meds?" He asked, as he carefully tucked her bangs behind her ear. She began shaking her head side to side.

"No, please don't…" she urged, holding on to his arm. He hesitated a moment. He knew it was a pride thing. She was a federal agent, after all. After last night, she surely would've wanted to keep the 'tough girl' act, even with everything that had happened the previous night. Will simply nodded, complying with her request.

"Okay. But if it gets worse at all, even for a second, I'm callin' them back in."

"Fine," she agreed. He kissed her hand, leaning in to kiss her.

But once again, their intimate moment was cut short when they were interrupted by knocks on the door.

Both of them turned around, waving and smiling at the eight agents standing out the door.

"Come in," JJ breathed.

"There she is!" Derek beamed, as they walked closer to her bedside. She willed her tears back, knowing that her team had been there for her, staying all night at the hospital.

"How are you feeling?" Emily worriedly asked. She observed the state in which her friend was in, looking at the bruises, cuts, and stitches on her face.

"Yeah, we heard that you were fighting with the nurses earlier." Spencer added, trying to lighten the mood.

JJ and Will both chuckled.

"I'm better now, now that you guys are here." She responded. They could sense a weakness in her voice. Nonetheless, they were more than glad she made it out okay.

Suddenly, the lighthearted moment turned into a serious one.

"What were you thinking, Jayje? You could've died!" Penelope worriedly fretted, as she pushed her way past the other agents, straight up to her friend.

"Penelope, I'm sorry. I should've known better… But I do hope you guys understand that there was so much at stake if we didn't keep it a secret from you guys… I'd rather risk my life than all of yours. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if any of you had died."

She began tearing up, thinking about the rooftop. Emily knew exactly what JJ was talking about.

The team understood. However, they all knew that JJ didn't know that Price hadn't made it out of the building alive. None of them had the heart to tell her – not even Matt.

"It's okay JJ, we understand what you had to do. We know why you had to keep it a secret." Derek broke in.

"And we couldn't be any prouder of you, girl." David valiantly addressed.

"… And what's most important is that you're alive, JJ. You're an important part of this team, no doubt." Aaron declared. They all nodded – they couldn't argue with that. They all knew what this team was without JJ.

It sucked.

"Thank you guys… And I'm sorry." She teared up.

A wave of silence washed through the room, as they all continued to stare at the agent in the bed. They were appreciating the moment – reunited as one whole family again.

However, the nice little moment was cut short.

"Don't you ever do this to us again, JJ, you understand?!" Penelope fretted.

Everyone had smiled and laughed.

JJ nodded. "I promise,"

"Good!" Penelope blurted, as she went in to hug her friend. JJ teared up, having her friend in her embrace. It felt good.

Each one of the members got to share a moment with the blonde:

Derek kissed her hand. Spence kissed her on the cheek. David kissed her on the forehead. Alex hugged her. Penelope held her. Emily kissed her on the cheek. Then Aaron leaned in to hug her.

Soon after, all members of the team had left her alone to rest. Will and Henry had joined Emily and Penelope to grab some brunch. All of them had left, with the exception of Matt – he'd told the rest of the team that the two of them needed to have a 'chat.'

They all understood what it meant – State Department matters.

So they'd all left, leaving him with JJ. When the room was cleared, he grabbed the chair, sitting next to her. He took her hand, staring at it.

"You really scared me, kiddo."

She turned her head around, meeting his gaze.

"I'm sorry, Matt. If I had known…"

"No, don't take this out on yourself Jayje, it's my fault. I should've taken more… Drastic measures to keep you safe."

A prolonged silence consumed the room, before JJ spoke up.

"So you lied to me," she playfully accused.

"What?"

"On your first day with us, I asked if you took this job because of me, and you said no."

They both chuckled.

"Oh, that… Well to be fair, if I had said 'yes' you would've freaked out on me, and you wouldn't be able to do your job effectively. I couldn't risk your job with the BAU by telling you straight up that we were in danger."

"Fair enough." She agreed.

"Plus, I thought it would be the right time to return the favour for you saving my ass back in Iraq." He admitted.

JJ chuckled, thinking back of their time overseas. It was scary for her – she'd never really experienced having someone close to her, nearly get taken out by a frickin' rocket-propelled grenade in the battlefield. It was horrifying – the stress of being in one of the most dangerous places on earth, having bullets constantly whoosh over your head, having to watch your every step for a landmine or roadside bomb, the constant threat of death, and needing to be prepared for everything…

Experiencing combat had really changed her. For better or worse… She still couldn't tell.

"You really scared me back there, Matt."

"I could say the same thing! What the hell were you thinking?"

She sighed, thinking of that dreadful day.

"To be honest, I have no idea what I was thinking. My mind was in overdrive. I forced Smith to fall back because I felt like a serviceman of this country didn't deserve to die under civilian command, my command. You guys never should have let me be the team sniper. I was an idiot… Combat was too overwhelming. I'm no soldier, Matt. Why'd you choose me? I had no idea what to expect. I'd seen the reports, and I'd seen the news. Being out in the field in Iraq… I don't know, Matt. I didn't think I'd sign up for it, but that day… I needed to get you guys out of the way. Our country needed men and women like you, not me."

"JJ, stop… That day, when you rescued our entire squad by covering our asses, I didn't see just another 'Special Agent' on the field… No, I saw soldier. You're a hero, JJ." He interjected.

"But that's just it! If you didn't choose me for this operation, King, Edwards, and Strauss would still be alive!"

A wave of guilt consumed his body. Was this on her conscience? The deaths of King, Edwards, and Strauss?

"Jayje, stop. Don't take this out on yourself. We wanted someone different for this operation, and you were perfect for it. We couldn't have possibly known that Smith would turn against us and join Alliance. You can't beat yourself up for something that was unpredictable." He persuaded.

"I guess," she said. Matt rubbed the back of her hand, comforting her. She'd been through a hell of a lot.

However, he was still curious.

"I hate to ask this now… But where exactly is the chip now, JJ?"

Her eyes had widened. She almost forgot about the whole reason they were targeted in the first place. The entire reason she was abducted.

The goddamn chip.

She let out a breath before answering his question.

"Okay, don't be mad, but it's inside of me."

Matt's eyes widened, in shock.

"What the _hell_?!" he blurted out.

"Matt! Be quiet! It's in my old gunshot wound. I stuck it in there, when you guys found me in Iraq. I knew there was a mole, so I couldn't just risk telling any of you where the chip was."

He'd calmed down a bit.

"Oh." He paused a moment, frowning. "So you didn't trust me?" he playfully accused.

"Oh shut up Matt. I didn't know who to trust, okay?"

"Fair enough," he began. "But you do know you have to get that removed and returned back to the Pentagon as soon as possible, right?"

She furrowed her good brow.

"Yes, Matt, I am aware that there is a million-dollar chip in my shoulder, I couldn't just show up to someone at the department, when we were still under the threat of being taken out by a bastard traitor!"

Matt laughed at her, nodding.

"Alright, alright! I'll get in report to the General and confirm the case has been closed."

They both managed to relax at the last few words Matt had said.

"You're crazy, JJ." He chuckled.

"Shut it, Matt." She half-smiled.

They both looked into each other's eyes, with a look of conviction.

"We're going to be okay." Matt promised.

She simply nodded. The last word he'd said was troubling.

_Okay_.

Okay?

She certainly was not _okay_.

* * *

AN: ahhh I hate to say it, but this story is nearly reaching its end. One more chapter and that's it! But stay tuned, I've got a HUGE surprise for all you guys! I promise! xoxo


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